


This Feels Right With You

by agentlara



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Bisexual Addison Montgomery, Bisexual Meredith Grey, F/F, Healthy Relationships, Long-Distance Relationship, MerAdd trying to work out this marriage thing, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:14:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28125933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentlara/pseuds/agentlara
Summary: Set two (2) months after Cristina and Meredith’s Hawaiian trip and Addison’s move in LA.Meredith and Bailey were sent to a two-week Medical Conference in Boston — in behalf of Dr. Richard Webber. Bailey, unfortunately, had to leave on the 3rd day because of a personal emergency and went back to Seattle. Meredith bumps into Addison who is coincidentally invited to speak in the Medical Conference. They talked and went out for drinks. The next day, they wake up — naked and very much married. Chaos ensues.No Alex/AddieNo George/IzzieBailey is Chief Resident
Relationships: Meredith Grey/Addison Montgomery
Comments: 74
Kudos: 190





	1. What brings you to Boston?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first MerAdd fanfic! I've only joined the ship more than a month ago, and ever since I've discovered them I never looked back! I think I've read most of MerAdd fics in AO3 and fanfic.net and I noticed how few they are, so here is me contributing to that. I'm new with Grey's Anatomy too, so... I have a hell lot of seasons to catch up on, but right now, this is my take on Addie and Mer. Hope you like it!

“Grey, I’m not kidding. Stay here, and behave.” A rushing Bailey paused walking, and looked at Meredith pointedly -- the same way she did when Meredith was still an intern and she was sternly warned not to wake her up unless the patient was dying.

Meredith stared at Bailey for a moment, swallowed and nodded her head, resigning to her fate of being alone in a medical conference in Boston. “Yes, Dr. Bailey.”

Bailey gave her a once over and nodded. “Good. I’ll see you next week.” She instructed, continuing to walk out of the hotel, and giving her bag to the hotel staff to put it inside the trunk. She opened the door of the cab and looked back at Meredith, who was standing a few feet away from her. Bailey sighed and her face softened a bit. “I’m sorry for bailing on you, Grey. But --”

Meredith’s eyes widened and shook her head. “Oh no, Dr. Bailey! Tuck needs you. I perfectly understand, and I assure you, I won’t screw this up. Just…” She hesitated a bit before continuing to say, “I hope Tuck feels better soon.”

Bailey’s lip quirked a bit and nodded. “Thank you, Meredith. Stay out of trouble, hm?”

Meredith smiled a bit, and shrugged. “I’ll try.” Then she watched the cab Bailey got into speed away from the hotel and to the airport. Meredith couldn’t help but sigh and feel anxious a little bit.

Which, well, she shouldn’t be, she knew that. This is, after all, Boston. It was the place where she grew up after Ellis and she moved from Seattle when she was 5 years old. She knew the place, sure, but a lot had happened in a year. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Seattle was her home now, not Boston. If she was going to be honest though, Boston had never been her home anyway. Seattle had always been home for her. 

Meredith checked her watch, it was 12:30pm. Well, she still had 30 minutes to spare before the afternoon session began, so she decided to go back to her supposed lunch break. Bailey and she were supposed to have lunch outside, but Bailey received a call from her husband, telling her that Tuck was suffering from a high fever, which wouldn’t go away, so he brought him to Seattle Grace. Meredith didn’t know what was happening, at first, only that Bailey was rushing to pack her bag and telling her that Meredith should stay and finish the 2-week medical conference, as instructed by Richard. Meredith was hesitant, at first, but she knew that Bailey would not ditch her like that on their 3rd day if it wasn’t important -- and Tuck _is_ important.

Meredith decided to just eat whatever the conference offered, instead of going out, so she went her way to the dining hall of the hotel, where the other doctors were, when she bumped into a body --

“Oof ---”

“Shit!” Meredith exclaimed, her hands reflexively reaching out to balance the other person when she felt them wobble out of balance. “Sorry! Sorry, I wasn’t look--” When she looked up, she was met with familiar blue eyes, red lipstick, and fiery red hair. “ _Oh._ ”

The woman she bumped into looked down and something flashed on her eyes, recognition maybe? before her eyes widened and her mouth opened. “Me-Meredith.”

“Addison.” Meredith breathed, not expecting to see Addison at all. (Though maybe she should have, Addison _is_ a double board certified surgeon and practically a legend in the medical world)

“H-hey --” Addison croaked, shifting her feet to balance herself, feeling Meredith’s hands holding her steady. When she stood up straight, she glanced at Meredith’s hands quickly. “Hmm--”

Meredith shifted her eyes to where Addison glanced and saw her hands still holding Addison, so she immediately pulled them back, and rubbed her neck in embarrassment. “Oh --uh.. Sorry.”

Addison smirked a bit, not used to seeing her ex-husband’s ex-dirty mistress and now girlfriend (?) acting this way. “Oh, it’s okay. I wasn’t really looking.”

Meredith waved her hands. “That’s fine. That’s fine.” She looked down, breathing heavily before she straightened her back and looked up at Addison again, who was staring at her in wonder.

They were silent for a while before Addison’s eyebrow twitched a bit, and gave Meredith a small smile. “What brings you to Boston, Dr. Grey?”

Meredith perked up at the opportunity to converse with Addison, because really she wanted to talk to her more, but she didn’t know…. what else to say. After all, they didn’t really talk much before Addison left. Actually, she was completely blindsided to Addison leaving. All she knew was that when she and Cristina came back from the latter’s honeymoon in Hawaii for 2 weeks, and on their first day as residents, there was no Dr. Addison Montgomery who came to help deliver or check on Nancy Walters’ baby.

“Medical conference..” She simply answered, raising her eyebrows. “You? I thought you were in L.A.?” She asked, feeling a bit tense since she didn’t know what Addison was thinking. Did it make her uncomfortable seeing her? Her ex-husband’s (ex) mistress?

“I was…”

“L.A. too sunny for you?” Meredith smiled widely when she heard Addison chuckle at her teasing, her shoulders relaxing at that.

“No.. well, yes.. But I’m getting used to it, actually. I take long walks on beaches now.. I’m becoming very zen.” Addison bragged, smiling upon seeing Meredith’s shoulders relax a bit.

“Well, zen looks good on you, Addie.” Meredith smiled genuinely, not missing how relaxed and laid back the neonatal surgeon indeed seemed to be, a far cry from the woman she worked with in Seattle Grace Hospital.

Hearing Meredith call her by her nickname made Addison’s stomach flip. “You look good too, Mer.” Addison looked sincere.

The soft look on Addison’s eyes coupled with the sound of her nickname coming from her made Meredith’s stomach flutter and she didn’t know why.

Meredith merely shrugged to brush the feeling and the compliment off, deciding to stir back the conversation to safer territory. “Really, what are you doing here, Addison?”

“I actually have a panel today at…” Addison looked at her watch. “3pm.”

Meredith frowned before a realization dawned on her. “Ohhhh.. You’re the speaker on maternal-fetal medicine.”

Addison swayed her head from side to side. “Well, yeah. That’s me.”

Meredith chuckled, feeling foolish. “I should’ve known. You _are_ world-class, after all.”

Addison smirked. “And don’t you forget that.”

Meredith stared at Addison for a second, biting her lip, when she seemed to have made a decision. “Listen, Dr. Bailey was actually with me earlier, but she had to go back to Seattle because of a personal emergency… and I would really appreciate it if... uhm…” She faltered a bit.

Having a feeling of where this was going, Addison urged her to continue. “If?”

Meredith looked straight to green eyes. “If, maybe, you want to grab dinner with me? I mean, it’s really nice to see a familiar face, that’s all… and uhm-- you know, catch up since you left…” She trailed off, thinking before continuing. “Unless it’s weird?” She tilted her head, gauging Addison’s face for any reaction but finding none. “It’s weird, right? I mean--” She sighed. “You know what, never mind. It’s nice see--”

“Hey, hey.. Meredith, stop.” Addison cut her off, amused by the woman’s ramble. She didn’t really remember Meredith being this nervous before, but she found it amusing and adorable nevertheless. “It’s okay.. I would love to have dinner with you, Grey. I’m actually alone here, so yeah, it’s nice to see a friendly face too.”

Meredith’s face brightened at the acceptance of her invitation and she smiled so wide her friends might freak if they saw her because it was so unlike her.. “Yeah?”

Addison nodded, smiling back at Meredith. “Yeah.”

Meredith looked at her watch, noting that she had only 15 minutes before lunch ended. “Uhmm-- I have to take my lunch now, but I’ll see you later? After your panel?”

Addison nodded her head. “Yes, of course. I’ll see you later, Grey.”

Meredith gave her a soft smile before resuming her walk towards the dining hall.

Addison stayed, watching the blonde walk away from her with a small smile on her face.

* * *

After Addison’s panel, Meredith waited for the neonatal surgeon to finish talking with the other speakers of the panel.

During the first session of the afternoon, Meredith was able to join a group of doctors from Mass. Gen who approached her during lunch, telling her that she was familiar, and asking her about… Ellis Grey, naturally. They were apparently her Mom’s interns once upon a time. Meredith didn’t really recognize them, but that was more because she stayed mostly in the hospital’s daycare or nursery with the other babies when she was a kid and Ellis brought her there; and when she was a teenager, well, she had an angry pink hair phase with all black get up, so Ellis didn’t really allow her to go visit her there anymore and when she did, she avoided people like plagues. In any case, the Mass. Gen doctors were pleasant. While Meredith was a bit awkward at first, she felt a bit more at ease (though still not totally) discussing some things with them about the first panel, focusing on neurosurgery. She really liked neuro.

When the panel where Addison was included started, Meredith gave all of her attention to the redhead. Addison was brilliant. There was no doubt about that. While Meredith didn’t have the best personal relationship with Addison back in Seattle Grace, Meredith recognized and could admit that Addison was actually a great teacher, better than Derek even. She made sure to teach her interns well, and Meredith would forever remember the few times she was on her service.

“Dr. Grey! We’re going out to drink later, want to join us?” Dr. Samson, a general attending at Mass. Gen., asked.

Meredith glanced at the direction of Addison, before looking back at Dr. Samson. “I’m not sure. I’m having dinner with someone, but maybe we can join you after? If that’s okay?”

Dr. Samson smiled, nodding her head. “Sure, no problem! We’ll be at the greatest bar! You know it?”

Meredith grinned. “Yeah.”

“Great!” Then she left.

It took a few minutes more before Addison finished her conversation. Addison easily spotted Meredith after and walked towards the blonde. “Hey.”

Meredith smiled. “Hey.. You ready to go?”

“Yep.” Addison started to walk, alongside Meredith. “Do you have a restaurant in mind? I can ask my colleagues for suggestions, if you’d like.”

Meredith looked at Addison pointedly and smirked. “Addison, I grew up here in Boston. I assure you, I won’t disappoint you.”

At Addison’s look of surprise, Meredith chuckled.

“You’re from Boston? I thought you’re from Seattle?”

Meredith shrugged. “Well, I was born in Seattle. We lived there ‘til I was 5 years old, but when Thatcher, my dad, left, Ellis moved us here, in Boston. She worked at --”

“Mass. Gen…” Addison continued, realizing.

“Yep. I actually just moved back from Seattle to begin my internship… and well, for my mom too.”

Noticing Meredith’s hesitation and sudden somber mood, Addison didn’t say anything about Ellis anymore and tried to stir back the conversation to a lighter one. “Well, in that case, where are you taking me, Dr. Grey? Because I am starving.”

Meredith smiled widely. “You’ll see, come on!”

* * *

“A pizza place, really, Meredith?” Addison asked dryly, sitting in one of the corner booths of the restaurant.

Meredith chuckled, sitting directly beside Addison. “Hey, Regina Pizzeria is actually one of the best pizzerias here, you know? I used to eat here a lot when I was a teenager, since Ellis couldn’t be bothered to cook and I don’t know how.”

“What? Seattle doesn’t have one?” Addison asked coyly.

Meredith shrugged. “Sure, but not as good as Regina’s. I bet you would say the same thing once you try it.” Meredith quirked her lips in a small playful smile.

Addison grinned. “Well, let’s see about that!”

One of the waiters came to take their orders then. While waiting for their order, the two ladies settled into a comfortable conversation, talking about Addison’s practice in L.A. and Meredith’s first few weeks as a surgical resident.

“It’s… slow.” Addison began. “I mean, I get 1 or 2 clients a day? It’s so unlike the hospital scene, so I’m still getting used to it.”

“You like it?” Meredith asked, her entire attention focused only on Addison.

Addison shrugged. “Yeah, but I sometimes miss the rush of surgery and -- I can’t believe I’ll say this, but I do miss having back to back surgeries in one day.”

“You miss the sleepless nights?” Meredith teased, chuckling.

Addison laughed. “Oh no… I do love sleeping, thank you very much. But I guess, I’m just not used to having so much free time.”

Meredith groaned, rolling her shoulders as if feeling all of the exhaustion and sleepless nights the past weeks (or the past year) had brought her.. “I’d kill to have so much free time.”

Addison smirked. “How’s residency? Going well?”

Meredith looked at her pointedly. “I think the only good thing about being a resident is having your own interns to boss around.”

Addison laughed. “How are they, anyway? Eager, like you were?”

“Too eager, maybe. I’m not even sure if we were _that_ eager.”

“Of course, you were. Every surgeon had been too eager even once in their life.”

Meredith raised her eyebrow at her. “Even you?”

Addison took a sip on her wine, covering a small smile on her lips, before she responded. “Oh yeah, and I cared too much too…” She trailed off. “I saw myself so much in Izzy.”

Meredith was surprised at that, because she could still remember what Addison did to Izzy in the quintuplets case that caused the latter to get mad at Addison. “Really?”

Addison nodded. “Oh yeah… Richard was my supervisor then, he gave me this patient who was very critical. I really did care for them… and then they died.. Richard told me that there was no chance that they could have lived, and that it was just his way of teaching me not to care so much… I was so mad at him.. so, I avoided him for a year!”

“And you did the same with Izzie.”

Addison hummed. “I know it was a bitch move, but I also wanted to help Izzy. Our job isn’t easy… Putting too much emotion? That’s just making it harder.”

Meredith nodded solemnly, understanding Addison’s point.

They were silent for a few minutes before Meredith broke it. “My sister is an intern at Seattle Grace.. She’s under Cristina.”

Addison tilted her head to look at Meredith. “Molly?”

Meredith shook her head. “No… her older sister, Lexie.”

“How’s that for you?” Addison asked, remembering how reluctant Meredith was to recognize Molly as her sister, when the latter became a patient at Seattle Grace.

“Well, she was… intense.” Meredith smiled a bit. “She ambushed me at the ER door on her first day, and was… well, she wanted us to be sisters.” Meredith shared, not caring that this might be weird, considering they weren’t friends, and especially considering who they were, along with the complicated history they had back in Seattle. What mattered to Meredith right now was how easy and comfortable talking to Addison was.

“Well, do you?”

Meredith looked at her questioningly.

“Do you want to be sisters?” Addison asked more clearly.

Meredith pursed her lips, uncertainty coloring her face. “I don’t-- I don’t know.”

“Well, you have time to figure that out.” Addison assured, reaching to hold Meredith’s hand on the table and giving her an assuring smile.

Meredith smiled gratefully, feeling her stomach fluttering again, for some reason.

Then the waiter interrupted them with their orders. Once everything was on the table, Meredith grinned at Addison excitedly.

“Well, try it, Addison. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

Addison was deliberately slow in cutting a piece of the pizza and bringing it into her mouth, because she saw Meredith staring at her intently. The look Meredith was giving her gave her knots in her stomach, but she brushed it off. When she first tasted the pizza, her eyes widened a bit and Meredith’s grin widened.

“I told you, it’s good!” Meredith exclaimed, eating a slice of her own.

Addison chewed quietly and wiped the grease on her mouth with a napkin, nodding her head at Meredith approvingly. “Well, you are right, Dr. Grey. I guess your tastes aren’t so bad, after all.”

“My food choices, no matter how limited, are never questionable. Choices in my personal life? Sure. But never my food choices.” Meredith firmly stated, taking her food seriously.

Addison looked at her, seeing an opening for a question that lingered at the back of her mind since seeing Meredith earlier. She cleared her throat, before asking her question as casual as she could. “How’s Derek, by the way? Is he Chief now?”

Meredith looked up from her pizza and bit her lip for a second, before shaking her head. “He’s good, I think. And no, Richard hasn’t stepped down yet.”

“You think?” Addison’s brow quirked at that.

Meredith shrugged nonchalantly, taking a bite of her pizza before facing Addison again to respond. “Well, we broke up.”

Both of Addison’s eyebrows raised at that. She did not expect that. When she left Seattle Grace, she was so sure that Derek and Meredith would stay together...for good. “You… did? Like for… real?” She asked tentatively.

Meredith chuckled dryly. “I guess that’s a fair question.” She said, knowing that Derek and she didn’t really have a stable relationship in the first place. “But, yes. For real, this time.” She smiled sincerely at the redhead. “No more McLife for me.” She exhaled the words out, chuckling a bit awkwardly.

Addison tilted her head to study the woman beside her. The news made her see her in a new light… in a good way, although she couldn’t still wrap her head around such news, so she asked. “But.. you’re Derek and Meredith… you were in love! You were supposed to stay together… I mean I left to give you your fresh start.” Addison vocalized her thoughts.

It was Meredith’s turn to raise both of her eyebrows, surprised at Addison’s last statement. She guessed it was as good a time as any to discuss Addison’s sudden departure. “You… left to give us a fresh start?” She asked slowly, trying to digest Addison’s statement.

Addison cleared her throat, straightening her back to seem more confident as opposed to her uncertainty earlier. “Well, to give all of us a fresh start.”

“I don’t understand.” Meredith said, although she thought she had a vague idea of what Addison actually meant.

Addison sighed, and slumped her shoulders. “Meredith, as long as you, me, Derek, and hell even Mark are in one place, the things in the past will always hunt us… especially Derek. So, I left… I figured it would do you guys good, plus I needed a change in my life. Seattle was becoming too crowded for me, I figured I could have my fresh start in L.A..”

“Where it’s always bright and sunny?”

Addison smirked. “Well, yeah.. Cloudy and rainy didn’t really work for me anymore.”

Meredith smiled at the quip, then looked down at her plate before she looked back up to stare right into Addison’s piercing green eyes. “You didn’t have to do that for us too, Addison. I mean, if it’s solely for yourself, that’s… great. But if it was for us... ” she trailed off.

Addison just shrugged, unconvinced.

Meredith reached for her hand and held it firmly. “No, I’m serious, Addie. Whether you were there or not, Derek and I wouldn’t have really worked out.”

“But you’re the love of his life.” Addison pointed out.

Meredith smiled ruefully. “But he’s not mine. I don’t trust him anymore, and that’s important to me. How could I trust him not to leave me the way he did you?”

Addison flinched a bit at the blunt answer, so Meredith brushed her knuckles with her thumb to soothe the sting of her words. “He loves you, Mer.”

“And he loved you too. You were together for 11 years, Addison. If he could neglect you for 2 years, and leave you, the woman he loved and married for 11 years, how am I sure that he wouldn’t do the same thing to me? I am, after all, just the girl from the bar he cheated on her wife with.”

Addison shook her head, not wanting Meredith to think that way. Like what she said when the blonde was high on morphine, she didn’t hate her. Apparently, Meredith really did not remember that. Regardless, she wanted to assure Meredith that there were no hard feelings. At all. “Mer…”

Meredith let go of Addison’s hand and waved her off, not needing Addison’s condonation. She did wrong at the prom, she knew that. There was no going back from there. “But that’s over now. We’re just friends... So…”

Addison recognized that Meredith didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so she nodded, letting it go. “How’s Callie?” She asked instead.

Their conversation continued, with Meredith keeping her up to date to what was happening in Seattle Grace since she left, and Addison telling her all about her friends in the practice, the few surgeries she did at St. Ambrose, and her sudden fascination with aromatherapy candles.

They decided, later on, that they didn’t want to end the night yet, so Addison agreed to go with Meredith at The Greatest Bar to drink with other doctors. When they got there, they were given 3 shots to drink immediately. While Addison was a bit hesitant at first, Meredith convinced her that they drink the shots together. So, they did.


	2. We had sex, didn't we?

Meredith woke up, with a throbbing sensation on her head, feeling like it was being pounded by a thousand tons of brick. She groaned, closing her eyes tightly and turning her head on the pillow to dispel the light coming from the glass window of the hotel room. While she did love alcohol and getting wasted, she hated the morning-after, more specifically, the hangover.

Meredith was internally berating herself for being recklessly drunk while technically on a work trip. Dr. Bailey would be so pissed if she knew that not even 24 hours after she left, Meredith had already gone and drunk herself to the point of… blackout, because Meredith couldn’t remember much from last night except that there was so much alcohol…

A groan was heard from somewhere in the room.

So, Meredith buried herself more into the pillow, because, of course! It was so typical of her to sleep with somebody after a night of alcohol. Then, she remembered Addison.

Despite the pounding headache she was feeling, Meredith sat up straight and opened only one of her bleary eyes — since it was too bright, she just… couldn’t deal with that.

“Addison.” She whispered, thinking where the redhead might be.

As if summoned (or maybe not), a hand draped around Meredith’s waist (which she didn’t actually notice at first) pulled her closer. When Meredith looked down to see who was the person she slept with, all she saw was red and bare shoulders.

“Fuck..” Meredith exhaled in a heavy sigh, because, again! Of course, not only did she drank herself to stupor last night and slept with someone, but she also, and more importantly, slept with Addison fucking Montgomery. The ex-She-Sheperd.

Meredith sighed and turned to Addison. “Addison. Wake up.” She called, touching the redhead’s arm on her waist and shaking it gently. “Addie.”

Addison groaned at first, before her eyes started fluttering open. When she looked up, the first thing Addison saw was the blue eyes of her ex-husband’s ex-dirty mistress. Upon seeing her, Addison did what Meredith did earlier, she buried her face back into the pillow, tightening her hold on Meredith and groaning at the possible and most probable implications of what she saw. “Mer, sleep. I don’t have the energy nor the brain cells to deal with this right now.”

Meredith stared at Addison for a long time, before sighing and accepting her questionable choices, like always. She laid back down again and nuzzled her nose on Addison’s neck. For all the complications that would arise from whatever this was, she’d sleep it off for now. This was a problem for future Meredith.

It was two hours later when Meredith awoke again. This time, it wasn’t because of her pounding head, although it was still throbbing like hell, it was because of a warm feeling of fingers caressing her back. Addison.

During their sleep, they have shifted that Addison had slipped her arm around Meredith’s shoulders and onto her back, and Meredith’s head was on the redhead’s chest, with an arm draped around Addison’s waist. They were cuddling… _huh_...

“You awake?” Addison’s voice was raspy, clearly from just being woken up and from the dryness of her throat brought about by the tons of alcohol she consumed last night.

“Mhm..” Meredith hummed. “Good morning.”

Meredith heard rather than saw Addison smiling. “Good morning, Mer.”

“We had sex, didn’t we?” Meredith asked in a resigned, knowing tone.

Addison smirked. “Yes, we did.”

“Shit. How did that happen?” Meredith molded herself more on Addison’s naked body, while Addison pulled her a bit closer.

Meredith felt Addison shrugged her shoulders. “Alcohol?”

“Well, alcohol does make everyone look porny.” Meredith quipped.

Addison laughed at that, and soon, Meredith joined her too. The irony wasn’t lost on them, though. The ex-wife and the ex-dirty mistress, banging each other? Well, if they were in Seattle Grace, the nurses (and more discreetly, the doctors) would have had a field day. Meredith and Addison would have been the center of the gossip mill for months on end, that was for sure.

“Oh, gosh. We’re such screw-ups.” Addison exhaled, wiping tears caused by so much laughing and groaning because her head still hurt.

Meredith couldn’t argue with that, because they _were_ screw ups. God! What would Cristina say?

Regardless… “This doesn’t feel weird, though.. which makes it actually weird. Does it feel weird to you?” Meredith asked, lifting her head a bit to take a look at Addison’s face.

Addison looked down on her and shook her head. “No. It doesn’t. It actually feels…” she paused, looking for the right word... “Normal is what comes to mind… but —”

“It feels natural, Addison.” Meredith corrected for her, burying back her face on Addison’s chest.

Addison smiled warmly, although Meredith couldn’t see it. “It really does, Mer. It feels natural.” She repeated, thinking of what it could all mean.

Silence enveloped them thereafter, basking in the morning glow of the day and being in each other’s arms, despite the mild throbbing of their heads.

“Brunch?” Addison asked, later on. “It’s 10:33. We can still shower and eat before the next session this afternoon.” She said.

“You’re staying?” Meredith asked with a hopeful lilt in her tone. She knew that Addison was only here for the panel yesterday. Her flight was supposed to be earlier this morning, sure, but still… She was Dr. Addison Montgomery. She could reschedule her flight anytime she wanted.

Addison shrugged. “I could stay. My panel finished yesterday and I don’t have anything else to do here, but I could…” then she hesitated a bit before she continued. “I could stay?” She said, looking for a go signal from the blonde.

Meredith hummed and pulled Addison closer to her, getting the underlying question in Addison’s statement. “Please stay..” She said. She didn’t know why, and she didn’t have the time or the energy to even understand why, but she liked Addison being there with her. She felt comfortable and safe with the redhead that she had not felt with Derek or any other lover she had in the past, ever. So she told Addison just that. “I like you here with me.”

Meredith felt Addison kiss her hair and rub her back before she heard the neonatal surgeon say, “I like being with you too.”

Neither of them could even begin to explain what the hell was happening, and both knew that they had a hell of a conversation to go through — to unpack not only their shared history in Seattle Grace before, but also last night’s events and what it meant — but it didn’t matter. Not for now, at least. Both felt content for the first time since either could remember, and that was enough for them. For now.

* * *

After taking 2 Advils each, showering together, and yes, having a repeat of their romp from last night (albeit, this time, they were both sober and could definitely remember everything that was happening), Addison and Meredith went to the hotel restaurant to have brunch, feeling considerably better than when they first woke up. They couldn’t join their colleagues with the morning sessions anymore, since it was pretty late, but they could wait for them there instead. It would be lunch pretty soon anyway.

When they were escorted to a corner table in the restaurant, the waiter was happily smiling at them and what he said shook them to their core.

“Good morning, ma’am. Our chef would like me to tell you that, on behalf of the hotel and the whole restaurant, we congratulate you on your wedding and we wish you a happy marriage.” He smiled. “Your brunch for today will be on-the-house to extend the celebration, Drs. Montgomery-Grey.”

Both heads turned to him fast, almost giving both of them whiplash and surprising the waiter, who faltered a bit at the reaction but was able to compose himself and to smile widely at them.

Meredith and Addison just stared at the waiter for a minute, before Addison came back to reality. She cleared her throat and asked slowly. “Wedding?”

The waiter froze for a bit, then tilted his head, wondering if it was a trick question or not, before deciding that he couldn’t answer it any other way. “Yes, Ma’am.”

With his answer, Meredith was pulled back to reality, blinking her eyes quickly, and tried to speak. “Wha-I mean-how—” She couldn’t bring herself to form a full sentence, and was so thankful when Addison reached for her hand and squeezed it lightly.

“Thank you. We would love to eat whatever the Chef has for us.” Addison just said, smiling tightly and dismissing the waiter who went back inside the kitchen to inform their chef that the newly-weds were there to have their brunch.

Meredith and Addison stared at the waiter’s retreating back for a while, before Meredith shifted her eyes to look at Addison. “What the fuck?”

Addison closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down despite feeling the same panic she knew Meredith was feeling right now. She couldn’t freak out, if Meredith was freaking out, because if she did, she knew things would escalate in a bad way.

“Addison, what is that?” Meredith asked again, her throat constricting a bit. She was so not expecting this — but then again, who did? Heck, she could barely sustain a freaking relationship! And now marriage? With her ex-boyfriend’s ex-wife of all people! God, she knew she was prone to trouble and awkward situations, but this? 

Gosh, Dr. Bailey told her to stay out of trouble, and of course, that was just what she got herself into. Trouble.

Addison licked her lips, trying to remember what happened last night, but she couldn’t remember much. Not really. Everything after her 6th shot of tequila was a blur. “I—” She stammered. “I don’t know. I couldn’t remember anything after my 6th shot.”

Meredith stared at her intently and sighed, nodding her head. “The last thing I can remember a bit clearly is Dr. Samson telling us about the wedding of her sister she wasn’t able to attend because of the conference.”

Addison nodded her head, remembering that too. After Dr. Samson told that story, everyone took a shot to celebrate her sister’s wedding. That was Addison’s 6th shot but definitely not the last one.

“Well, maybe the doctors at Mass. Gen know?” Meredith said, a bit desperately because as much as she hated surprises, she hated not knowing more. So, she needed to know just what the fuck happened last night that resulted in her being married to Addison “Ruler of all that is Evil” Montgomery.

Addison exhaled shakily. “Yeah.”

When the waiter came back bringing their sumptuous meal (if they weren’t so bothered by their seemingly shotgun marriage, they would have enjoyed it, like really enjoyed it because that was top-tier delicious breakfast), the newly-weds were quiet. They spent the whole brunch eating in silence, several confusing thoughts running through their minds.

After they had eaten their brunch, the Chef came out to congratulate them again and of course, being supposedly respected doctors (most especially for Addison), they thanked the Chef and left. They went to the lounge, where they knew the doctors participating in the conference would pass through to get to the dining hall for lunch.

While they did sit close together, Meredith and Addison were still quiet all throughout, until —

“There they are! Drs. Montgomery-Grey!” Someone called loudly from across the lounge.

When the said Montgomery-Greys looked up, they saw Dr. Samson, followed closely by the other doctors of Mass. Gen. who they drank with yesterday, grinning at them. The doctors walked towards them, all smiling happily, but their smiles faded when Addison asked immediately.

“What the hell happened yesterday?” Addison snapped. She couldn’t take all of the congratulations and wide smiles without knowing just how the fuck it happened, and really, she didn’t know anything. She was confused as hell, well, they were — she and Meredith — and it must have shown on their faces because the cheer on the doctors’ faces vanished.

Dr. Samson shifted her feet awkwardly, exchanging awkward and confused looks with the other doctors before asking the important question of “You don’t remember last night?”

It was Addison and Meredith’s turn to exchange wary looks. When they looked back to the doctors, Meredith was the one who answered with a barely audible tone. “No.”

“Oh.”

Meredith frowned. “We don’t really remember much after you saying you missed your sister’s wedding.”

Dr. Samson tilted their head at them in contemplation, then nodded. “Well, lunch? We’ll tell you what happened.”

The apparently newly-weds exchanged looks again, not noticing that they were, in fact, conversing only with their eyes and without saying a word at all.

Dr. Samson and the other doctors watched the exchange, noting how in sync the two were despite not remembering their supposed wedding last night. They thought that they, at the very least, had to be a couple to be in sync like that.

The couple turned to them and nodded their heads. The two started walking after the others, going to the dining hall. All of them got their food first, sans Addison and Meredith who opted to drink coffee for the second time that day instead, as they were still full from their brunch a while ago.

When the group of 6, including Addison and Meredith, sat down, everyone started eating their food first while discussing the panel for the morning sessions. After a while, when the hunger had been abated and the discussion of other topics had faded, they all knew it was time to discuss the big elephant in the room.

It was Dr. Samson who spoke first, she figured she was responsible as to why these two got married last night. It all started with her story after all. “I’m gonna start then?” She asked, looking around the table.

The Montgomery-Greys nodded their heads and listened carefully.

Apparently, after toasting for Dr. Samson’s sister’s wedding, Meredith told the story of her best friend’s supposed wedding gone wrong. She told them that it was her and Cristina who went to the latter’s honeymoon, instead; and that she wished she could just stay there or go to another honeymoon since it was the first time, since starting her internship, where she could just eat, drink, swim, and most importantly, sleep in without worry. The group joked about getting married first before going to another honeymoon. So, of course, smart Meredith exclaimed —

“Let’s get married, Addison!”

Addison didn’t fight Meredith’s idea at all, so the next thing everyone knew, they were in a cab, and on their way to Boston City Hall. It didn’t take long for them to reach the place. Apparently, one of the doctors, Dr. Brown, had a sister working in the City Hall’s Registry Department. She met them there and was the one who processed their papers for a marriage license which was given not even an hour later. Dr. Samson and Dr. Brown took the couple’s wallets where all their IDs and other information were placed and filled out the Marriage Intention form for Addison and Meredith while the latter answered their questions for the form. After accomplishing, submitting and finalizing the intention form, Addison and Meredith were directed to a workaholic judge, who officiated their wedding. The ceremony itself only took 15 minutes, witnessed by the 4 Mass. Gen. doctors and the sister. They went back to the hotel and opted to celebrate the wedding with lots of drinks at the hotel bar. It only took 15 minutes, before Meredith was pulling Addison to stand and exclaiming, “Let’s go, Dr. Montgomery-Grey. Let’s have our honeymoon now.”

“Then you guys left. We stayed there for a few more minutes, before we decided to go back to our hotel rooms and sleep.” Dr. Samson finished, looking at the two women who were looking pale after the story they just heard.

Everyone was quiet after. The other doctors were unsure, looking at the couple warily, while the latter were just shocked, to say the least.

Meredith felt her throat constricting, not knowing what to say or do. Apparently, it was her who proposed sex (well, that wasn’t unlikely because Meredith had said before, and again now, everyone looked porny when she was drunk and to be honest, even if she wasn’t drunk, Addison was too hot for her own good) but more importantly, the one who proposed marriage to Addison. She, who flinched at the idea of marriage, family and forever. She, who just broke up with the ex-husband of the woman she married. _Oh God._ She was so embarrassed. What did the older woman think of her now?

There was a voice at the back of Meredith’s head, telling her that Addison didn’t even take a second to say yes to her proposal, according to the doctors at least, but she didn’t want to focus on that and what it meant.

Addison, for her part, was just… baffled. Why, of all the people there, would Meredith ask her to get married? And why the heck did she even say yes!? Maybe it was because Meredith knew her best among the doctors there. While they did have a not-so good history, they still knew each other. They weren’t strangers, per se. So maybe? And maybe her own inebriated mind thought the marriage to be a joke. That had got to be it, right? Addison was convinced that it was the alcohol. Yeah. She’d pin it on the alcohol, because if it wasn’t the alcohol and other things? Well, that spelt complexity all over it.

“We’re married?” Addison whispered, unable to wrap the information around her head. Before hearing the whole story, she still hoped, maybe, that it was all a big misunderstanding; that she and Meredith weren’t really _legally_ married, but… they were.

Dr. Samson and the other doctors nodded their heads quietly.

“Like legally? We’re drunk and it was legal? This isn’t Vegas.” Addison argued weakly, knowing there was no other answer but a simple and resounding, 

“Yes. Very much legal. It didn’t seem like you were drunk, Addison. It looked like you were a giddy couple eager to spend the rest of your life together, so the judge didn’t really question it. I actually have the copy of your marriage certificate. Your marriage license was given to the judge so he could submit it for registration.” Dr. Samson opened her purse and took out a brown envelope, reaching over to hand it to Addison who absentmindedly took it.

Upon opening it and taking out the content, Addison heard Meredith’s gasp over her shoulder because it was, in fact, their marriage certificate.

**CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE**

PLACE OF MARRIAGE

CITY OR TOWN  BOSTON  DATE OF MARRIAGE  AUGUST 18, 2008 

_Addison Adrienne Forbes Montgomery_ _Meredith Grey_

SURNAME AFTER MARRIAGE SURNAME AFTER MARRIAGE

_Montgomery-Grey_ _Montgomery-Grey_

Addison and Meredith couldn’t do anything but just… stare at the paper. Well, there was no denying it now, ‘s there?

Oblivious to the internal turmoil the couple were in, Dr. Brown smiled at them. “Well, it isn’t like you won’t go there anyway, right? How long have you been a couple already? With how we see it, it was inevitable anyway.” He teased, grinning at them.

Addison and Meredith looked up sharply at that, feeling more confused at such bold assumption — which, frankly, neither wanted to dissect nor overthink at the moment. Their supposed marriage already brought confusion more than both were inclined to feel.

Meredith was the one to answer this time. “Oh.. we… we’re not together.” She stammered, looking like she was going to puke anytime.

All four Mass. Gen. doctors’ eyebrows raised at that, not believing it.

“You— you’re not?” Dr. Samson asked, tilting her head in wonder.

Addison and Meredith shook their heads.

Well, that just made everything more awkward then.

“Oh, sorry. We — we just thought that you were together for a long time already… so we didn’t really stop you last night.” Dr. Brown frowned, feeling guilty.

“Plus alcohol.” Dr. Carrell, a fifth year Mass. Gen. resident, said. All the others nodded their agreements at that.

Meredith and Addison were quiet for a while, before Addison spoke. “It’s fine.”

Meredith looked at her questioningly. “It’s fine?”

Addison shrugged, not looking at Meredith but at the others. “Sure.” She pursed her lips, thinking before deciding to say. “Could you excuse Dr. Grey and I? We — uhm… we have things to talk about.” Addison didn’t really wait for their response before she hastily grabbed the envelope and pulled Meredith away from the table and into the elevator.

“Addison?” Meredith asked.

“We need to talk, Grey.” Addison said firmly, avoiding Meredith’s gaze.

Meredith swallowed loudly, before she nodded her head in acquiescence. She knew that when Addison was like this, there was no other choice but to follow.

When they reached Addison’s room, where both stayed last night, they entered quietly.

Meredith sat at the edge of the bed, while Addison tossed the envelope on the bed and stayed standing, pacing on the floor.

Nobody dared to talk first, but Meredith couldn’t handle Addison’s nervous energy so she spoke. “I’m sorry.”

Addison stopped her pacing and turned towards Meredith with an unreadable look on her face. “You’re… sorry?” She asked, as if not understanding Meredith.

Meredith nodded. “Yes. I was drunk and stupid… I just —” Meredith sighed heavily. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I ask you to marry me —”

“I said yes, Meredith. And apparently, it didn’t even take me a second to agree, so don’t apologize. This is as much as my fault as it is yours.” Addison cut her off, because she didn’t need selfless and self-deprecating Meredith right now.

“But —”

“Mer.” Addison looked at her pointedly.

Meredith groaned and raised her hands in exasperation. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Addison. We’re married. I asked you to marry me, and you said yes. We just didn’t sleep together. We’re _actually_ and _legally married_.” Meredith repeated, putting emphasis on her words, so Addison could understand, because right now, Meredith didn’t think Addison understood just how big of a deal it was.

Addison rolled her eyes. “I know, Meredith. This isn’t my first rodeo.. I was married once, remember? To your boy— well, ex-boyfriend now, apparently.”

Meredith exhaled, remembering the added complication of that tidbit of information. “So… what?”

Addison pursed her lips, stared at Meredith for a while, before she sat beside the blonde on the bed. “I — how do you feel about it?”

Meredith looked confused at her question.

“About being married… to me.” Addison clarified.

Meredith licked her lips and looked down. “Well, I’m shocked… and yes, I freaked out a bit earlier, but it…” She looked up and stared straight at Addison’s eyes, admitting for the first time, even to herself, that — “It doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.”

Addison bit her lip at the confession, because “Me too.”

Meredith looked surprised at that. “You too?”

“Yeah.” Addison nodded.

Meredith blinked multiple times, trying to process the redhead’s answer. “B-but… I’m your husband’s dirty mistress.”

Addison rolled her eyes at that. “Ex-husband, Meredith.”

“Yes, now. But Addison, I slept with Derek at prom… he was still your husband then.. I am your husband’s dirty mistress.” Meredith pushed.

Addison sighed. “Meredith—”

“You should hate me—”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Well, you should.”

“I don’t.”

“Why not?” Meredith asked instead.

“You did nothing wrong, Mer.”

“Addison—”

“Could you please shut up, and let me finish first?” Addison snapped, rolling her eyes at the woman.

Meredith made a show of tucking her lips to signify that she was shutting up. She stared at the redhead and waited.

“I don’t hate you, Mer. I tried, but I never did. Was I hurt when you slept with Derek at prom? Yes, sure. But… we were long over before you even came into the picture, Mer. I should’ve…” She exhaled, remembering what she said when Meredith was on morphine. “I should’ve let him go, I should’ve stepped aside… I should’ve…” She paused, looking straight at Meredith. “...a lot of things.”

Meredith’s lips twitched, stopping herself in saying something. However, Addison raised her eyebrows at that, telling Meredith that she could say something already, so she did. She looked straight at Addison’s eyes. “Me too… a lot of things.”

Addison couldn’t help but laugh lightly at Meredith’s answer.

“What?” Meredith asked, confused.

“You said that before.”

“I did?” Meredith’s brows furrowed and frowned, trying to remember when she could have possibly said that.

Addison nodded. “Yeah. I told you this before when you were on morphine and you said the same thing.”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed at that. “That’s… I don’t remember anything from that.”

Addison just shrugged her shoulders.

Meredith stared at Addison for a while, before asking. “So, you don’t hate me?”

Addison smiled. “No, I don’t.”

Meredith couldn’t help but smile back. “And you don’t.... It doesn’t bother you that, you know, we’re married?”

Addison shook her head. “Well, it does but not as much as I thought it would.”

Meredith smiled again at that, knowing just exactly what the redhead meant. “What.... what happens next?”

“Well, we still have a week and a half before you fly back to Seattle… we could just be together now? Figure it out later? After all, this is our honeymoon, right?” Addison proposed, unsure but hopeful.

“You’ll stay?” Meredith looked hopeful at that.

“Sure, I’ll stay.”

“What about your job? The practice?”

“I can call Naomi and say that I need to stay here the whole 2 weeks.. I can stay, Meredith. If you want.” Addison looked at her earnestly.

Meredith reached for Addison’s hand and intertwined their fingers together. “I want you to stay..”

Addison grinned. “Then I’ll stay..”

* * *

In the following days, Meredith and Addison had their semi-honeymoon, which meant that they attended the sessions Meredith was interested in since it was still a work trip, but they mostly spent the time going around Boston and having sex — lots and lots of sex. Meredith brought Addison to some of the places she frequented while she was still living there — mostly restaurants and bars.

Meredith and Addison got comfortable with the Mass. Gen. doctors as days passed by. When the doctors saw them together at the afternoon session after their talk, they didn’t ask about anything but settled on like normal. They didn’t really pry about their history, or about their plan now that they were married. They treated them like they would newly-weds. They teased them and joked with them whenever Addison and Meredith would kiss in front of them or flirt at each other. They were so chill and uncomplicated which Meredith and Addison appreciated so much. By the end of their 2-week medical conference, Dr. Samson, along with Drs. Brown, Carrell, and Hammer, gave them rings — 2 white gold wedding bands with 5 small diamond stones on top of it. They were simple but elegant. Inside, “Montgomery-Grey” was engraved.

“This is our wedding gift to you, guys, and sort of our apology offering. We understand that it was… rushed and completely unexpected, so we thought to give you those — make it official, you know? Or if you decide otherwise, at least you have something to remember this by.”

To say that Addison and Meredith were surprised was understatement. Nevertheless, they appreciated the sentiment despite not knowing where they would go from there. They didn’t wear them though, not yet. So, they kept them in their respective bags to not lose them.

Addison and Meredith stayed for 2 more days in Boston, before they decided to fly back to LA and Seattle, respectively. On their last night, they finally talked about their marriage and what they planned to do.

They were sitting on the bed, leaning on the headboard while cuddling. Meredith was not a cuddler, but she liked having Addison close to her. She figured this whole thing was to indulge her honeymoon idea, so why not, right? She figured there was no point in holding back, especially since Addison seemed to like holding her too.

“Mer… we need to talk about what our plan is after this.” Addison started, rubbing Meredith’s arm that was draped around her waist.

Meredith sighed, knowing Addison was absolutely right. They needed to talk about it. However, she wanted Addison to lead the conversation, so she asked. “What do you want?”

Addison’s brows furrowed at that, not believing that it should be what she wanted the decision should rely on. “I think I should be the one asking you that, Meredith.”

Meredith frowned at Addison’s answer. “But —”

“I don’t want to get a divorce, Mer.” Addison interrupted her, knowing Meredith was too stubborn to concede. “That’s what I want, but I know that you might not want that. So, what do you want?”

Meredith was staring intently at Addison after hearing her say that she didn’t want to get a divorce. She didn’t say anything for a while, thinking, before she spoke again. “You… you don’t want to get a divorce? You want to stay married?” She asked softly.

Addison shook her head. “I’m 39 years old, Mer. I don’t like the feeling of being 39 and already having my second divorce not even a year after my messy first.”

Meredith bit her lip. “The first one that you had with your ex-husband who cheated on you with your wife now.”

Addison sighed, feeling exasperated. “Mer..” but before she could continue, Meredith cut her off.

“I know, I know you don’t hate me. That’s not what I’m saying, but you have to understand how complicated this is, Addison.” Meredith said, meeting Addison’s captivating green eyes.

“I know this is complicated, Meredith. Of course, I do.. How can I not? You’re my ex-husband’s ex-dirty mistress and I’m your ex-boyfriend’s ex-wife. But —” She paused. “I don’t know.. It doesn’t feel right getting a divorce from you… not without trying to make this work first at least.” Addison explained.

“But you live in L.A., while I live in Seattle. How do you expect us to make this work apart?”

Addison licked her lips, thinking before saying what she thought. “I think the distance would be good for us.”

Meredith tilted her head up to look at Addison in confusion. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“I feel like it would give us a more objective perspective on things. While I love being with you, really I do, Mer, but I also feel like being with you is like taking a hit on drugs. It clouds my mind with —”

“Lust and desire, right?” Meredith cheekily cut off and laughed when Addison merely rolled her eyes at that.

“— _endorphins_.” Addison emphasized, looking at her as if challenging her to say otherwise. “So, I can’t think straight.” She continued.

“I don’t think we’re meant to be thinking straight, Addison.”

Addison glared at her but also ignored her quip. “As I was saying…” she gritted her teeth, getting back to her point. “I just… at least, if we’re apart, we could think about our marriage more without being influenced by anything other than our own selves. We could decide whether we really want it or not, whether we’re getting a divorce or not after trying to make it work..” She paused before she corrected herself. “I mean, if we decide to try and make it work. I just, I feel like if we could survive being apart, I think we could survive being together and it would be much easier too.” She said imploringly, looking at Meredith with something akin to hope and trepidation on her face.

Meredith turned serious at that and pursed her lips, thinking for a while, before agreeing with what Addison was saying. The neonatal surgeon had a point, of course she did. However, Meredith was still not fully convinced. Don’t get her wrong. She liked Addison, she liked being with her and what they had right now was amazing, but she wasn’t sure if she could do this with the redhead because —

“I’m dark and twisty, Addison. I’m a mess and I easily screw things up, without effort even. While you… well, you’re the kind of woman who deserves commitment… who deserves someone sure… and I—I’m not sure I can give you that.” Meredith laid out. “Commitment scares the shit out of me. I have abandonment issues, trust issues — really, I have a lot of issues. I’m dark and twisty.” She repeated, wanting Addison to know just exactly what she was entering into.

Addison pulled her closer with her and dropped her head on top of Meredith’s. “I’m scared too, Mer. I don’t really have the best track record on relationships and marriages. Heck, I’m that girl who slept with her husband’s best friend because she wanted attention. I have a lot of issues too that I know I still have to deal with; and I feel like with everything that’s going on in my life right now, I’m not — I’m not sure I’m ready for a commitment also… but I want to try this with you. I don’t care if you’re dark and twisty. What I care about is this feels right with you.”

Meredith stared at Addison for a minute, in awe of this beautiful and amazing woman in front of her. She couldn’t, for the life of her, understand just why Derek let this woman go; just why Mark cheated on her and hurt her? Addison was so brilliantly amazing and admirable that Meredith’s heart fluttered and her stomach flipped just by looking at her.

Meredith sighed, trying to brush those thoughts away, and asked Addison. “Do you even like me?”

Meredith felt like they were jumping the gun here. They got married, for god’s sakes! They got married even before they could ascertain for themselves what they truly felt for each other. While it was true that Meredith wasn’t as bothered with it as she expected to be, it was still… new and complicated and so out of Meredith’s turf.

Addison bit her lip, unsure what to say at first, before she decided to just speak the truth. “I didn’t — I didn’t know the extent before...” She started. “But I liked you. I thought it was friendship, but… maybe I like you even more than being friends. At the very least, I like what I feel with you, Meredith.”

It was Meredith’s turn to bite her lip at Addison’s answer, her heart thundering on her chest and her fight waning at the confession. Without being asked in return, Meredith spoke, exhaling the words. “Me too.” She started, which made Addison shift to look at her face properly. Meredith gave her a small timid smile and continued. “I never hated you, I tried… on principle, because you stole my McLife but it was hard to.. You’re annoyingly kind and painfully smart… you save babies for a living and you once saved my person’s life… so yes, you’re not easy to hate and... I like you. I never allowed myself to admit it, but I do. I like you. I like how you make me feel… and —” She hesitated for a bit before she continued. “I… I can see myself being with you, truly with you someday, maybe.”

Addison smiled brightly at her. It was the kind of smile Meredith had never seen on Addison’s face before, but she found that she loved it and she liked to be the one to bring that smile on Addison’s face again, and more often. “Maybe?”

“Yeah, Addison.” Meredith smiled. “I’m… not ready for a commitment yet, at least not the marriage kind —” Meredith stopped when she saw Addison’s brow quirked in amusement at that. “What?”

Addison bit her lip, trying to stifle her laughter.

“What?” Meredith asked again, starting to get annoyed.

Seeing Meredith’s annoyed face cracked Addison. She chuckled and asked. “Marriage kind? What does that even mean?”

Meredith pursed her lips, brows furrowed. “You know…” She shrugged.

Addison raised a challenging eyebrow at Meredith who sighed in resignation.

“The living together in a house in the suburbs, babies, kids, walking in the park under the moonlight and all that shit. I… I’m not ready for that yet.”

“Well, that’s too bad. I like walking in the park under the moonlight.” Addison joked, grinning.

“Addison! I’m serious!”

Addison chuckled and zipped her mouth as a sign of surrender.

Meredith glared at her before she continued speaking. “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted…” she gritted her teeth. “I’m not ready for that kind of commitment but…” she sighed. “I’d like to try to make this work with you.” She added softly, deciding that she could try this with Addison. They might have started this the unconventional way, but they could make it work, if they tried to.

Addison nodded her head, agreeing. “No marriage-kind commitment, yes..” She wanted to joke but she saw how Meredith looked so she didn’t, deciding to show instead that she was as serious as Meredith when it came to this. “We can take this slow, Meredith. We don’t have the best history, so I think we need to exert extra effort to make this work, but I think we could do it… if we want. We could do this… just slowly.”

Meredith smiled happily, comforted at the idea that Addison was on the same page as her. “Slow…” She repeated. “I like that. Slow..”

It was silent for a minute before Meredith continued, looking at the redhead innocently. “Just so we’re clear, slow still entails sex, right?”

Addison couldn’t help but laugh at that. Typical Meredith. “Of course! I don’t want to punish myself as much as you, Mer.”

Meredith shrugged nonchalantly, smiling cutely and nuzzling her nose on Addison’s neck. “Just making sure.”

Addison rolled her eyes. “Seriously. You’re like a fratboy sometimes.”

Meredith’s lips quirked to the side at that and pulled back and scooted up to be face to face with Addison. “Just sometimes? I mean, I don’t mind. I like sex, Addison, especially sex with you.. and I know you do too.” She smirked, looking downright smug. “So, really, Addie, I don’t think you really have a leg to stand on.”

Addison just narrowed her eyes at that, unable to refute such statement because Meredith Grey was right. She liked having sex with her. If she would be honest, she’d go as far as saying that sex with Meredith was the best she ever had.

Meredith spoke again too after a while. “Just to be clear again, we don’t… we don’t —other people…?” She asked awkwardly, flailing her hand around.

Addison hesitated to answer. She didn’t want to, of course. Of course, she liked to be exclusive with Meredith but only if Meredith was open to that too. “I —” She stammered. “I want that.. I mean..” She cleared her throat. “I want to be exclusive with you, Grey, but only if that’s what you want? I mean, no commitment means you don’t owe me anything or what, but I—”

Meredith decided to cut off Addison’s ramble at that with a quick peck on her lips which made Addison’s eyes close a second. While her rambling sure was cute, Meredith wanted to spare the neonatal surgeon from that. “I want that with you too, Addie. I know we don’t really have a good track record on monogamy —”

Addison raised her eyebrows at that, her eyes shining in amusement.

Meredith just rolled her eyes, ignoring her. “— but I promise you… there would be no one else. Marriage might scare the hell out of me, but I still respect it regardless of how I acted before with your marriage with Derek. This is ours though. I am your wife and you’re mine, whether we want to or not, and I would never cheat on you while we try to make this work. I give you my word.” She assured, kissing Addison’s jawline.

“I know, Mer.” Addison breathed, appreciating Meredith’s assurance nevertheless. “I — I also want to put it out there that that time with Mark… that’s not me. It’s not who I am… I just — I—”

“Feel neglected. You were in pain and you wanted to feel loved. You wanted your husband’s attention.” Meredith continued for her, seeing how Addison was struggling to get it out.

Addison nodded, relieved that she didn’t have to voice it out.

“I understand that, Addie. It felt the same with George. I hated it, but…” She shook her head. “I don’t… I don’t know if I can give you what you want, Addie, given who my mother is.. But I promise I’ll do my best.” She assured, recognizing that she might be as workaholic as her mother and might unintentionally neglect Addison like how Derek did before, and vowing to try and do better so it wouldn’t happen.

Addison kissed her forehead. “And that’s enough for me, Mer. I don’t want to put pressure on you, on us, to force us into doing something we’re both not ready for. So, just… slow, okay? No expectations, just slow. I don’t need you doing what you don’t feel ready for just because you think I want it.”

Meredith nodded her head solemnly, feeling hopeful for her future with Addison. “That goes for the both of us, Addie.”

Addison smiled, feeling content after the longest time.

They spent the rest of the night discussing their situation more — particularly the next time they’d see each other, and most especially the more important issue of telling their friends about them.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to let anyone know.” It was Addison who said that and Meredith wholeheartedly agreed.

While they valued their friends so much, they also knew that what they had was new — so new. Besides, they weren’t even sure if this would work, so telling them would be premature. Heck, they were both sure that the moment their friends found out, they’d be giving each of their own opinions — opinions which, while they knew would come from a place of love and care, they didn’t need right now.

“I want us to work this out on our own. Without anyone telling us what to do or what to think, without anyone telling us this is a bad idea before we could even form our own opinion over it.” Addison stated.

Meredith understood what Addison was saying. They already knew that this was unconventional, that this was complicated without even beginning to cover the fact that they had shared a past with the same guy — that at one point, they even overlapped. They knew all that, and with their friends knowing, Meredith was sure that she and Addison would not be able to even begin working this out before all of them would start badgering them to break up.

So, yes. Suffice to say, they decided to keep it a secret. At least until they could work out what they wanted out of it.

* * *

Meredith flew back to Seattle and Addison to LA with different surnames, with new silver necklaces where their respective wedding rings, given by the Mass. Gen. doctors, hung as pendants, and with new silver keychain tags, where the date of their wedding, 08.18.08., on one side and their respective initials on the flipside were engraved on. Meredith’s was engraved with ‘AAFMG’, while Addison’s was ‘MMG’. They found them in the airport’s gift shop while they were passing through. It was Addison’s idea, though it wasn’t opposed by Meredith because despite the uncertainty about the future, Meredith was sure of one thing — she couldn’t say no to her _wife_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make the marriage process as accurate as possible. I know that an overnight marriage is not possible or may not even be legal in some states, but this is fiction anyway. I've edited this many many times, but I figured I'd just wing it so, yes this was the product. Merry Christmas, MerAdds!! I hope you liked my gift. Let me know what you think!


	3. What about that 48 uninterrupted hours you were talking about?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a very long fluff-filled (and soft conversations) filler chapter. I wanted to set up the quick but not so quick progression of their relationship, so yes. This is unbeta'ed. So all mistakes are mine. I might edit this in the future! I'm in the middle of my exams but I wanted to get this out of the way so I won't have to think about it. I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! ☺️

Meredith felt like her body would give out any minute when she entered her mom’s house – well, her house now. It was only 8pm but she was feeling exhausted, either from the flight or the 2-week work trip was finally catching up on her. No one else was at the house since her roommates, Izzie and Alex, were still on their 24-hour shift and would only be out at 6am the same time Meredith would start her 12-hour shift.

Meredith took off her boots and left her coat on the floor before she practically crawled upstairs and into her bedroom, face planting on her bed.

“Oh god.” She groaned. Could she be more exhausted?

She stayed face planted for a few minutes before she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Blindly reaching for it, Meredith squinted one eye to look at the messenger.

It was Addison.

_From: AMG_

_8:07pm_

_Hey, got back safely? I’m at the hospital. Emergency surgery xx_

_To: AMG_

_8:08pm_

_Yes. I’m beat. Kick ass in the OR, Dr. Montgomery ;) Tell me about it later? Xx_

_From: AMG_

_8:09pm_

_Of course. I’ll text you once I’m done. Sleep and rest, okay? Good night, Grey._

Meredith couldn’t help but smile at that. She threw her phone to her bed and sat up, stretching her arms up to wake herself a bit. She took her pajama and Dartmouth sweater from her closet and washed herself up in the bathroom. After cleaning up, she got under the covers and slept throughout the night.

When Meredith woke up, it was to her alarm, telling her it was 4:30am and she needed to get up quick if she wanted to have a decent breakfast. She had half a mind to forego food in favor of more sleep, but her phone started ringing. She sleepily reached for it on the bedside table and answered it without looking at who the caller was.

“‘Lo?” She mumbled, her voice dripping with sleep.

_“Good morning, sleepyhead. Get up.”_

It was Addison. Meredith would recognize her voice, coupled with the natural husk of it, anywhere in the world.

“Addie?” She mumbled again, barely understandable.

Addison laughed from the other line, amused at the blonde’s sleepy state. Waking up with Meredith the past 2 weeks gave her an insight that Meredith was not a morning person; and she found that sleepy Meredith was a cuddly Meredith, which was a dangerous combination since it made her not want to get up, and just cuddle in bed with the blonde all day instead.

_“Yes. Wake up and eat breakfast.”_

Meredith hummed. “Cereals.”

Meredith could imagine Addison rolling her eyes already. _“Mer.”_

Meredith opened her eyes. “Why are you awake now? It’s so early.”

_“Well, technically I haven’t slept yet, so it’s late for me…”_

Meredith furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at the bedside clock. It was 4:36am.

“It’s 4:36am.”

_“I know. My surgery just finished.”_

“Oh. It wasn’t a c-section?”

_“Oh, it was.”_ Addison exhaled, exhaustion clear in her voice. _“But the baby needed corrective surgery, we needed to do an arterial switch. I just got out of the OR 15 minutes ago.”_

“That sucked.” Meredith rubbed her eyes to wipe away the sleepiness and started looking through her closet to look for something to wear.

_“I know. I’m so exhausted, I feel like I can sleep for 2 days straight.”_ Addison whined.

“Where are you? I think you should sleep first before going home.” Concern was evident in Meredith's tone and Addison’s heart warmed at that. However -

_“I can’t. If I sleep now, I won’t be waking up anytime soon and I very much like to sleep on my comfy bed than in one of the on-call rooms here.”_

Meredith nodded her head, understanding what Addison meant.

“Well, at least take a cab instead?” Meredith stopped in front of her bathroom door, waiting for Addison’s response.

_“Yes, I will. I’ll text you? If I don’t, I might be sleeping already.”_

Meredith couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face upon hearing Addison say that, imagining Addison’s half-lidded sleepy eyes. “No problem, Addison. You just rest, okay?”

Addison hummed. _“Have fun today. Kick ass in the OR, Dr. Grey.”_

Meredith smirked. “Oh, I definitely will, Dr. Montgomery. I’ve been deprived of surgery for 2 weeks!”

_“But you got plenty of sex.”_

Meredith’s smile widened more. “Well, I have no complaints about that.”

_“Good. I gotta go, but I’ll talk to you later. Bye, Mer.”_

“Bye, Addie.” Then the redhead hung up. Meredith stared at her phone for a few more minutes with a content smile on her face before she threw it back on the bed and took a shower.

* * *

Meredith was standing in front of the hospital with a content smile on her face. While it was a fun 2 weeks, primarily because of Addison, she missed Seattle Grace Hospital too, or at least the distinct smell and the quiet murmur of people going in and out either for check up or for unfortunate cases like accidents and illnesses. She was about to walk inside when Izzie and Alex came out of the building, looking distinctly exhausted and worse for wear.

“Heeeey!” Izzie smiled widely. “You’re back!” She walked straight towards Meredith and gave Meredith a big hug which the latter reciprocated happily, much to the delighted confusion of Izzie who knew how allergic Meredith (and Cristina) was when it came to mushy stuff that included hugging.

“Hey! Good morning! I’m glad to be! I miss surgery!” Meredith beamed.

Alex and Izzie exchanged looks, unaccustomed to a grinning Meredith.

Alex only shrugged and gave Meredith a quick hug.

“You guys going home?” Meredith asked, albeit already knowing the answer.

“Yes.” Izzie groaned. “I am so ready to hit my bed.”

“Me too. Being a resident isn’t much different from being an intern.” Alex huffed.

“Well, at least we get to boss around interns.” Izzie grinned mischievously.

“Unless they’re old, then you second guess yourself.” Alex frowned.

Meredith tilted her head to look at Alex. “Sounds like a story.” She smirked.

Alex shrugged. “You missed a lot in 2 weeks, Mer.”

“Yeah! We have to catch you up. It’s our off today, but we’ll meet you after your shift? Joe’s?” Izzie hounded, a close to manic smile on her face.

“Sure! I’ll tell the others too.” Meredith smiled, feeling inexplicably light this morning.

Izzie looked at her weirdly, contemplating whether she’d say something or not, but in the end, her exhaustion won out and figured she was merely imagining things and it’d be better after a much needed sleep, so she nodded her head and said goodbye to Meredith.

Alex nodded his head to the other blonde as well to signify his goodbye, before he followed Izzie.

Meredith waved them off and walked into the doors of Seattle Grace Hospital.

When she reached the Residents’ lounge, she changed into her scrub pants, purple long sleeves and her scrub top over it. She took her white coat and wore it while walking out of the room. Her interns were already there, waiting for her instructions.

“Hey, rounds in a few minutes. Do what you need to do and come back, alright?” She smiled.

Although her interns, especially George, were bewildered by the seemingly good mood of their returning residents, they did, however, follow her advice and took the time to have a quick breakfast, since they weren’t able to for fear of being late.

Meredith, on the other hand, remained standing there. She took her phone from her pocket and sent Addison a message, telling her she was in the hospital already and how she didn’t realize how much she missed it until she was standing outside earlier this morning. She slipped her phone back to her pocket, not expecting any reply from the redhead anymore since she knew the older woman was surely sleeping already.

Meredith spent a few minutes going over her patients’ charts, noting what or who she missed while she was away. A few minutes later, she gave the charts to her interns and started rounds with them.

During the rounds, the interns couldn’t help but feel uneasy with the way Meredith was acting. Sure, she wasn’t bad or anything before, but they were used to her being so… cold and straightforward. Not… warm and smiley. After their rounds, Meredith gave each of them their assignment. She was about to turn back when George stopped her by holding her elbow.

Meredith gave George a small smile, despite the confusion she felt. “Yes, George? Do you need anything?”

George frowned, unused and uncertain on how to even talk to this… Meredith. “Are-are you…” he cleared his throat. “Are you okay, Mer?”

Meredith frowned at his question, not understanding it one bit.

George looked down and shifted from foot to foot before he sighed, looked up, eyes looking determined. “You're acting weird.”

Meredith froze at his accusation and stared at him for a few seconds before she finally spoke slowly. “What do you mean?”

George spluttered and his hand flailed around, gesturing to Meredith before half-whispering, half-yelling. “You look happy!”

Meredith’s brows raised at that in both amusement and confusion. “And that’s bad because…?” She trailed off.

George faltered at her question, because, of course, how was she being allegedly happy bad? If anything, it should be _good_. “N-nothing.” He stammered and let go of her elbow.

Meredith just nodded her head. “Well, okay. Go find Dr. Sloan, George.” She repeated his assignment, before she remembered to add. “Oh, and Izzie wanted to go to Joe’s later. You guys will catch me up with what I missed.” She teased. “You and Callie should come.”

George looked uncertain. “I’ll ask her.”

Meredith nodded and pushed George to go to his assignment.

* * *

It was lunch time when she first saw Cristina.

“Hey.” Meredith greeted, smiling as she put her tray on the table where Cristina was sitting.

When Cristina looked up and saw Meredith’s wide smile, she froze with her fork suspended on air while staring at her person.

Meredith started to eat her food, when she noticed Cristina’s lack of response, so she looked at her person and saw her staring at her, frozen in place. To say that Meredith was weirded out by Cristina was an understatement. “Uh?”

Cristina blinked rapidly and continued her motion, still staring at Meredith. After swallowing her food, she didn’t waste anymore time to say, “What the fuck did Boston do to you?”

Meredith, who was only waiting for her best friend to speak, tilted her head in confusion. Because she was confused. What did Boston do to her? 

Well, Meredith guessed the more appropriate question there was what did Addison do to her, but of course, she couldn’t say that. Not to her person, unfortunately, and especially not to anyone.

“What do you mean?”

“You were gone for 2 weeks, and you come back with a smile?”

Meredith’s brows furrowed at Cristina’s remark, remembering George’s question (and concern) for her earlier too.

“What’s with you people? Can’t a girl smile these days? Jesus!” Meredith exclaimed, frowning.

Cristina smirked, noting Meredith’s frown and frustration. “Well, not the Meredith I know.” Then she smiled sincerely. “Hospital isn’t the same without you, Mer.”

Meredith smiled wryly at that. “Too boring?”

Cristina shrugged, still smirking. “Well, yeah. The gossip mill doesn’t have very interesting topics these days.”

Meredith rolled her eyes. “What a tragedy.” She responded mockingly, feeling somewhat at ease with how the conversation turned into.

“Oh yeah.” Cristina took a bite of her salad and sat comfortably on her chair. “So, learned anything new? Techniques? Please tell me you did some surgery there too.”

Meredith looked at her in exasperation. “Cristina, it was a conference, not a workshop.”

Cristina just raised her eyebrow.

“No surgeries. Just boring lectures.” Meredith exhaled.

Upon hearing that, Cristina looked at her with pity in her eyes. “Oh, you poor thing. You must be blood-starved.”

“I’m not a vampire, Cristina.”

Cristina waved her hand. “Ehh. Potayto, potahto..”

Meredith couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Trust Cristina to liken them to blood-sucking vampires. Although if Meredith would be honest, their thirst for blood (or at least good surgery which more or less involved lots and lots of blood) could be likened to that.

“Bailey allowed me to do an appy on my own earlier.” Meredith said.

“She did?”

“Yeah.” Meredith smiled. “I think she still felt a little bit guilty that she left me there alone.”

“Tuck needed him.”

Meredith shrugged. “That’s what I told her, but who am I to refuse a surgery on my own right? Even if it was only an appy.”

“Hope you didn’t mess it up like 007.” Cristina smirked.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “The only reason George messed that up was because it was _meant_ to be messed up. It was rigged, Cristina, you know that.”

Cristina just shrugged at that. They continued eating in silence until Cristina’s pager went off. “Gotta go.”

Meredith nodded her head, then remembered Izzie’s invitation. “Oh, hey! Drinks at Joe’s later!” She called out to the hurrying Cristina. The latter simply waved her hand as acknowledgement.

Meredith slumped her shoulders, eating on her own. It kinda sucked when she had conflicting schedules with her friends. She was finishing her meal when her phone vibrated in her pocket. When she took it, a giddy smile took over her face.

_From: AMG_

_1:23pm_

_How’s your first day back? Charlotte called, I’m needed back at the hospital. I miss Boston.._

_To: AMG_

_1:44pm_

_Bailey let me do an appy on my own. So, that’s fun! Were you able to sleep enough? I miss Boston too._

Meredith gathered her trash and left the Cafeteria. She decided to go to the residents’ lounge while she wasn’t needed yet.

Her phone vibrated again and she excitedly took it out of her coat.

_From: AMG_

_1:47pm_

_That’s great! She’s trying to make it up to you huh? ;) I did sleep, but not nearly enough!_

_To: AMG_

_1:48pm_

_She was. You won’t see me complaining, that’s for sure.. :D Well, you did say you miss the OR!_

_From: AMG_

_1:49pm_

_I’m sure.. But I did say I didn’t miss the sleepless nights._

Meredith bit her lip, thinking if she would say what she wanted to. She took a few minutes to think about it, until she decided to go for it because what the hell, what did she have to lose?

_To: AMG_

_1:53pm_

_I miss the sleepless nights with you._

Meredith opened the residents’ lounge and sat on one of the couches, twirling her phone on her hand and waiting for the redhead to reply. She clicked her phone, trying to see whether Addison had replied already but found none. She looked at it a few more times before she decided to give up, chastising herself for her impulsiveness until —

Her phone vibrated again.

It took less than a millisecond of Meredith to open it. When she read it, a goofy smile replaced the anxious frown she had on her face.

_From: AMG_

_2:02pm_

_I miss you, Mer. Sleeping isn’t the same without you beside me._

_To: AMG_

_2:04pm_

_Well, you should get as much sleep as you can now, Addie. Because in 2 weeks, you’re mine._

While in Boston, they were able to work their schedules around to be with each other. They decided that one of them could fly to where the other was every 2 weeks. By one of them meant Addison mostly, since she had the more flexible schedule, thanks to the relatively slow days of the practice. Meredith promised that once in a while, she could ask for a weekend-long break and fly to L.A. to see Addison instead. Just not every other 2 weeks, because she was still a resident — a second year surgical resident at that.

So, yes, 2 weeks from now, Addison would fly to Seattle to see Meredith. The latter was truly looking forward to it, since she already missed Addison, even if it had only been barely a day since they last saw each other. Addison’s body was addicting, that was for sure.

Meredith’s day went on like usual, she missed the hospital scene.. As much as she loved sleeping in, the rush the O.R. could bring within her never failed to make her feel alive. It was truly amazing.

After her shift ended, she waited for Cristina at the lobby of the hospital, then they proceeded to walk to Emerald City Bar, Joe’s Bar, to meet up with Izzie, Alex, George and Callie. Unlike the other times, Meredith didn’t immediately order tequila, but sparkling water instead which earned her looks from her friends. While Izzie and Callie looked amused, Alex and George looked confused, and Cristina looked suspicious.

“What?” Meredith looked them over, sipping water.

“Sparkling water?” Izzie asked, smirking. “Really, Mer?”

Meredith shrugged. “I think I reached my alcohol limit while I was in Boston.”

“B-but that was a work trip!” George exclaimed, looking like a puppy confused.

Cristina slapped his arm, and smirked at her person. “Well, that wouldn’t have stopped me, and I’m glad Mer also. How was Boston? Were there hot guys? Slept with any of them?” She joked, though there was an underlying tone in her voice that suggested she meant more than that.

Meredith shrugged, grimacing. “No… no hot guys.”

Izzie smirked. “And sleeping?”

Meredith rolled her eyes. “Seriously!” She glared at them. “I didn’t sleep with any _hot_ _guys_.” She answered, emphasizing the words hot guys, because she really didn’t — and she figured she wasn’t lying when she said that. She didn’t really sleep with any hot guys anyway, because she slept with a _hot woman_ — a sexy redheaded hot woman, to be more specific. She smirked to herself upon thinking that.

“That’s unfortunate. We were sure you’d take advantage of being away from Seattle and McDreamy for that.” Alex cheekily said, smirking at the blonde.

“Eh. Not my scene.” Meredith shrugged and decided to change the subject. “So, what did I miss? Any cool surgery?”

The night went on like that. All the while, Cristina observed Meredith because as much as her person said she didn’t sleep with any _hot guys_ (and it seemed to be true), it felt like there was something more in Boston than Meredith was willing to share. The others didn’t notice though, busying themselves by catching Meredith up with what she missed. They told her about the old intern, Dr. Norman Shales, and about the meth explosion. Meredith told them about the conference, the sessions she attended, the Mass. Gen. doctors, and… Addison. Meredith debated whether she would tell them or not, but she figured she should.

“Dr. Montgomery was there, actually.” Meredith glanced at Callie who nodded. She figured that Callie already knew, and was glad she mentioned Addison because it would have been suspicious to Callie if she didn’t.

“Yeah, she told me she saw you and had dinner at a pizza place?” Callie pitched in.

Meredith nodded her head, trying to figure out what else Addison told her. “Yeah. I saw her just after Bailey left. Since I didn’t know anyone there, I figured it would be nice to catch up since she left abruptly.”

“How is she? Was it weird?” Izzie asked.

“Dude, I can’t believe you had dinner with Satan.” Alex said.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “She’s not Satan. She’s actually very nice.” Meredith couldn’t help but defend the redhead especially since she wasn’t here.

“She charmed you, huh?” Cristina smirked, teasing her.

“We just had dinner, and we talked. We cleared the air, so to speak.” Meredith stated. “She didn’t stay in Boston anyway.”

“She didn’t? I thought she was in the conference?” Izzie asked.

Meredith nervously shook her head, glancing at Callie to see if she had any contrary information on that. Finding none, she continued. “She was only there to talk about Maternal-Fetal medicine. It was only one panel, so she didn’t really need to stay the whole time.”

Callie nodded, corroborating Meredith’s story. “She said she had surgery in L.A.. That’s too bad though, since she couldn’t accompany you the rest of the conference.”

Meredith waved her hand. “It was fine. I got along well with the Mass. Gen. doctors anyway. They were pleasant enough, so I wasn’t really alone after Bailey left.” She lied then proceeded to change the topic. She would avoid saying more lies if she could help it.

* * *

The days passed by like usual in Seattle Grace. There were days when Meredith wanted to yank her hair out of her head due to stress and frustrations because of her interns (or herself, because misdiagnosing a patient because she didn’t double check was definitely her fault) or because of freaking McDreamy (who started befriending her sister, Lexie, only to find out later on that McDreamy wanted all those marriage and growing old stuff with her and been confiding with Lexie about it! She backed away, of course. How could she tell him he couldn’t have that with her because she was gonna have that with his ex-wife!?), other days Meredith just wanted to crawl into her bed due to exhaustion, but there were days too — good days — that Meredith’s day was light, like today. Although that might be more due to Addison’s arrival later in the evening, rather than her easy day at the hospital.

Ever since Meredith arrived back from Boston, Addison had consistently texted her and called her much as Meredith did in return.

Meredith was _not_ a clingy person. She was independent, sure, but she also liked the feeling of getting to know her _wife_.

Meredith couldn’t help but smile at the fact of calling Addison her wife. It took some getting used to at first, but when she embraced it, it felt good. While they did agree that they would take things slow, which meant no commitment and no expectations, calling Addison someone less than her wife didn’t sit well with her. Addison wasn’t a friend, that was for sure. She was definitely more than that. Girlfriend? It felt too… official. So, she settled for “wife” because that was what Addison was to her. She recognized the irony of it, but what could she do? Nothing felt right until she called Addison as her wife, at least in her head.

Well, it doesn’t really matter much — labels were stupid anyway.

The past few days were spent getting to know Addison as much as she could; and Addison was getting to know her too. They talked about the most random things about themselves — be it their childhood, their high school proms, teenage angsty years, and even their wildest college parties — and the most mundane things as well, like their favorite colors, favorite food, favorite movies, things to do outside the hospital. Meredith was enjoying it and she knew that Addison was too. Of course, sexual innuendos were never _not_ present with them. 

Meredith liked how easy it was getting to know Addison. She neither had to beg, nor did it feel like she was forced to play a game – like how it felt with Derek before. Addison readily opened her life to Meredith who felt the strong desire to do the same to Addison. 

Meredith was currently changing from her scrubs into her jeans, white polo and navy blue sweater on top. She fixed her hair (which she rarely did) and put lip gloss (which she even more rarely did). That was how Cristina, her person and best friend in the whole world, saw her upon entering the residents’ lounge.

“Going somewhere?” Cristina raised an eyebrow at her, her eyes gleaming in curiosity and mirth.

Cristina wasn’t blind. Neither was she oblivious. She noticed how _different_ Meredith was since she came back from Boston. Sure, she wasn’t overly bright. Neither was she shining with happiness nor was she glowing or whatever happy and sunny people looked like, but she wasn’t the dark and twisty Meredith either. Rather, she looked… well, content was the word Cristina could think of that would best describe her person.

Meredith looked content – and that, for Cristina, was even more _interesting_. To make Meredith Grey look content? That was a feat in itself. So, yes, Cristina was beyond curious.

It didn’t help that there were several instances in the day where Meredith would just randomly smile at a text message or while in a phone call.

Cristina wasn’t stupid. She knew that Meredith had someone, but her person hadn’t said anything yet. Much as Cristina wanted to know who this someone was (and she truly had half a mind to just shake the information out of Meredith, praying to surgery gods and hoping that it wasn’t McDreamy), she wanted to respect her person’s privacy. Meredith would tell her when she was ready anyway. That didn’t mean, however, that she couldn’t gather _some_ information, right?

Meredith glanced at Cristina’s direction before she continued on applying her lip gloss. “Mhm.”

“Hot date?”

Meredith just shrugged noncommittally, smacking her lips to even the gloss.

Cristina’s eyebrow raised even higher at that. She and Meredith were never the kind to gush and obsess over their dates and fucking mushy stuff like that, but they always _always_ tell each other everything – maybe, not every detail but at least _some_ information to let each other know what was happening. They were each other’s persons after all.

“Lipgloss? Must be serious.” Cristina pushed further.

Meredith looked at her dryly. “Can’t a girl want to feel pretty without any hot guys involved?”

Cristina shrugged her shoulder. “Sure, but you? Definitely not.”

Meredith glared at her.

Cristina raised her hands in surrender. “I’m just saying… if you have a hot date, good for you..”

“Cristina, seriously!” Meredith said exasperatedly, an allusion to their good model friend.

“Okay, fine. Fine. I’ll stop.”

“Thank you!”

Cristina eyed her for a few minutes, watching as Meredith fussed over her shirt despite being impeccably straight already. Really, Meredith looked quite normal but… it still felt as if she was preparing for something.

When Meredith grabbed her bag to finally get out of the hospital, Cristina called out to her.

Upon turning back, Meredith saw Cristina’s soft but curious look. “You know you can tell me anything right? Even if that’s screwing McDreamy all over again. I won’t mind. I’m cool.”

Meredith smiled, appreciating Cristina’s odd way of saying _she’s always there for her_. “Yes, Cristina. I know. See you on Monday!”

* * *

“Hello there, stranger.” A low husky and very much familiar voice that brought goosebumps to Meredith’s back said behind her.

Meredith turned around to see none other than Addison Adrienne Forbes Montgomery-Grey, dressed in her black sleeveless top that showed off her curves, grey pencil skirt, and black stilettos. Her straight red hair was down with minimal makeup on. She was gorgeous.

Meredith couldn’t help her blush upon seeing how gorgeous Addison looked. She was hot. No doubt about that. When she looked up, Meredith knew that Addison caught her ogling, if her smirk and gleaming eyes were anything to go by. Meredith didn’t mind getting caught. She liked how Addison looked, so what? She was allowed to ogle her wife, thank you very much.

“Hey, Addie.” Meredith bit her lip, slowly walking towards the redhead.

Addison’s smirk turned into a small smile and met the blonde halfway.

Upon reaching each other, Addison pulled Meredith into a tight hug.

Meredith was caught off guard at first, but she relaxed not even a second later. Hugging Addison was definitely new, but entirely welcome. The redhead felt so warm and soft. She felt safe. So, Meredith returned the hug.

They spent a few minutes in the middle of the airport just hugging each other, until Meredith pulled herself away. “Hungry?”

“Yes please. I came straight from a 6-hour surgery, and plane food is just short of decent. So, I’m starving.” Addison groaned.

Meredith chuckled, taking Addison’s bag in one hand, and Addison’s hand in the other, intertwining their fingers. “Come on, then. I just know the place.”

* * *

“You know, when I said I was starving, I was talking about food.” Addison breathed heavily, rolling over away from the very naked and very sweaty Meredith Grey after an intense round of the horizontal salsa as Mark liked to put it.

Meredith was equally breathless beside her, but she chuckled, looking over the red-faced redhead. “Well, I thought that too, but you had to be a naughty girl on the way, so here we are.”

Addison couldn’t help but laugh at that. It _was_ her fault, but in her defense, after 2 weeks of a Meredith-less life (despite the equally steamy phone sex they participated in twice in the past 2 weeks), nobody could blame her if she were thirsty for her wife – especially if she looked just as edible while driving.

Addison shrugged, unapologetically. “I have no regrets.”

Meredith stared at Addison’s face, loving how Addison looked happy with her sparkling eyes and that pretty smile on her face. “Well, I did feed you, you know. Bacon cheeseburger, in fact.”

“As much as I love bacon cheeseburger, drive thru fast food does not count as a decent meal, Meredith.”

“Hey, it was the only thing I could think of to sate your hunger while I sate mine.”

“Seriously though,” Addison fully turned her body to face Meredith. “I’m hungry. Can we eat a decent meal now?”

Meredith smiled softly. “Sure, Addie.” She moved towards her to plant a quick chaste kiss on Addison and sat up. “Get dressed and let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, they were parking at a secluded area just a few miles from the harbour.

“Where are we?” Addison asked, as Meredith opened the car door for her and assisted her on going down.

Meredith took Addison’s hand and intertwined it with her and proceeded to walk.

“Fortuna’s. Vietnamese restaurant me and my dad used to go to when I was a kid whenever Ellis would stay in the hospital for longer hours. It’s not well-known, so not many people go here. Definitely not hospital people, so a perfect place to have good food with less people we know.”

Addison squeezed Meredith’s hand, knowing how hard of a topic this might be for the blonde. “Well, I can’t wait to try it.”

Meredith just smiled gratefully to the redhead.

They were seated very quickly upon entering. Not many people were eating, that was for sure.

After ordering, Addison and Meredith settled into a relaxed conversation about Seattle Grace until –

“Addie, I want to tell you something.” Meredith had been stewing about this for a few days already. She had not been able to tell Addison about Derek the past days. She figured if she’d tell the redhead, it’d be best to be in person.

Addison tilted her head curiously. “Sure, what is it?”

“It’s about Derek.”

Upon mentioning Derek, Addison’s demeanor tensed and her jaw clenched. “What about Derek?” She asked tightly. Since coming back from Boston, they made it a point not to talk about Derek at all. There was nothing to talk about after all. Derek had nothing to do with their relationship.

Meredith reached for Addison’s hand and squeezed it. “He told me that he wants to marry me.”

“What?” Addison took her hand away from Meredith and her face visibly paled.

“Addie…”

“So, you’ll marry him then?” Addison’s tone became cold and detached at that.

Meredith could practically see Addison’s walls raising themselves up after weeks of them down and practically non-existent. Addison was tense; and was slightly turned away from her, showing how closed off Addison became, compared to the open and relaxed Addison earlier.

“Wh-what? Of course not! I’m married to you, Addison.”

“And if not?” Addison’s tone was biting, itching for a fight.

Meredith couldn’t help but flinch at that. She wasn’t a stranger to this Addison. After all, their first several meetings were tense and bordering on antagonistic, given the circumstances at that time. However, after interacting with a warm and soft Addison in Boston and in the past weeks, she wasn’t...prepared to go back to the way they were before.

“Addison.”

“You want divorce? Is that it? Is that what you want to tell me?”

“N-no!” Meredith hurriedly answered. This was not going how she wanted. “No, Addison. I told you I’d try. _WE_ would try to make this work and I’m still all for that.”

Addison softened at that. She exhaled shakily, not looking at Meredith. “What do you want, Meredith?”

“I still want to work this out with you.”

Addison looked up and tilted her head in surprise and curiosity. “You do?”

“Of course.”

“Then–?” Addison’s eyes were full of confusion.

“I figured you have the right to know that another person is hitting on your wife.” Meredith shrugged, injecting some humor in her voice.

Addison gave her a small smile. “Well, I guess I need to work harder so they won’t stand a chance. I’m competitive, after all.”

Meredith stared at Addison for a second, thinking before finally saying. “There’s no competition when there’s already a winner, Addie. You’re my wife.”

“Well, he’s McDreamy.”

“But you’re McHotty.”

Addison’s lips quirked at that, her body totally relaxing now. “I thought I’m Satan?”

“Then I’m willing to sin with you, if you are.”

Addison couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Meredith just stared at her for a few minutes, her heart feeling warm and happy.

After their order arrived and they started to eat, Meredith started their conversation again. “You know, I never pegged you as the paranoid one in a relationship. You always seemed so…. level-headed.”

Addison glared at her and swallowed her food, before she responded. “Yeah, well cheating on your husband with his best friend then chasing him to another state, only to find out she fell in love with a much younger and much hotter doe-eyed blonde and still stayed with you out of obligation does that to you.”

Meredith took the response in stride, shrugging her shoulders. She didn’t mind. It was true. She could still remember how nervous Addison was when she asked him if she was still sleeping with Derek after the visit to the vet. “I guess I should be flattered because you’re that worried to lose me.”

Addison narrowed her eyes at Meredith, her lips twitching in an effort to keep a smile from her face. “Shut up, Grey.”

Meredith giggled. Honest to god giggled! _Who was she turning into?! God!_

They talked about mostly superficial stuff during their dinner and during their short walk at the harbour, feeling the crisp cold air of Seattle at night. They found that just existing in each other’s orbit was enough to sate their craving for another. Meredith couldn’t understand it at first. How could someone she hated (on principle) before evoked such feelings within her now?

Being with Addison was nothing like she ever experienced. Being with Derek, who she thought would be the love of her life, could not even compare to what Addison made her feel constantly… and it had only been 2 weeks (or almost a month since their marriage!).

That night, after they went home from dinner and got caught up with each other, they laid on their bed in Archfield Hotel where Addison would be staying in the duration of her stay in Seattle.

“What are you thinking?” Addison asked, noting the contemplative look on Meredith’s face.

Meredith shifted until she was facing Addison and propped her head on her fist. “I was… I’m thinking how easy this is.”

“Hm?” Addison looked back at Meredith, matching the soft but intense look the blonde was directing at her.

“Being with you is so easy, Addison. I know it’s been only a month, but it’s so easy… being with you. I don’t have to guess what you’re feeling, what you’re thinking because you tell me before I could even ask, or if I do ask, you answer me with no hesitation. You know when to push and when to wait. You don’t pressure me into this relationship.. You don’t make me feel like I need to do something for you to stay with me.”

Addison pursed her lips, making the same realizations as Meredith. The blonde was right. While she did have a brief bout of paranoia and panic earlier when Meredith mentioned Derek’s proposal, it was… just that, a moment. It didn’t transcend to the real world, so to speak. She felt secure in her one-month old relationship with Meredith than she ever did with her 11-year marriage with Derek. No matter how fucked up and how weird that sounded. How could they, a divorcee and a commitment-phobic, have such an easy relationship like the one they had now?

At Addison’s silence, Meredith continued. “I’ve always thought relationships are complicated as fuck. What with Ellis, Richard and my dad. And you, Derek. God, Derek was complicated. Even before you came into the picture. So, this, you, us. This being not complicated… it’s new and… scary.”

Addison reached over and tucked a stray hair behind Meredith’s ear. “It’s scary, yes. I’ve never been in an easy relationship either, but… I don’t mind. I like this, Meredith. Maybe… maybe this is what a relationship is supposed to feel like. Besides, when we decided to work this out with no commitment and expectations, isn’t complication what we were trying to avoid?”

Meredith exhaled. “I guess you’re right…”

“Of course, I am. I’m a double board certified surgeon.”

Meredith rolled her eyes at that and shoved Addison away, making the latter laugh.

“But seriously, Meredith. I like how this feels with you. Besides, I think our relationship is complicated enough as it is without us adding to that, don’t you think?”

Meredith smirked, directing a heated stare boiling with lust at the older woman. “I’m not sure. Will adding more complication mean more make up sex?”

Addison matched the heated stare the blonde was giving her. It made her blood boil... with need. “Maybe.” Then she pounced on Meredith. The moans and groans of two passionately uncomplicated individuals the only sound that could be heard for the next few hours.

* * *

The next day was more of the same. The two decided to stay in-doors the whole day, opting for room service rather than going out for meals. They were munching on chinese food while watching (or mocking and correcting) a popular medical drama, when Meredith’s phone rang. It was Lexie.

When Meredith ended the call without answering, Addison was curious.

“Hospital?” She asked.

Meredith shrugged. “It’s my sister actually. I told you, Alex agreed to cover for me. So, I’m all yours for 48 uninterrupted hours.”

Addison raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Yeah. You never told me how you managed to get Karev to cover for you?”

Meredith groaned. “I took his old intern for a day.”

“Old intern?”

“Mhm. There’s a new intern, Dr. Norman Shales. He’s _old_ old. Webber assigned him to Alex but things happened, and Alex wanted to get him out of his hands, so I took him for a day.”

“How did that go?”

“Remember when I told you I misdiagnosed a patient?”

“The one with the moles?”

“Yeah. Well, Norman was the intern I worked with on that.”

Addison winced. “Hope Richard wasn’t too hard on you.”

“Oh, he was pissed alright. The hospital had to buy her a house! But it’s fine. I learned my lesson.”

Addison hummed. “Karev didn’t ask you why you wanted him to cover for you?”

“No.. but I think he had an idea. I’m not exactly subtle, no matter how hard I wished to be.”

“Oh yeah? I could never figure that out.” Addison mocked.

“Shut up, Addie. At least I’m not as bad as you.” Meredith rolled her eyes. “Your friends knew you were screwing somebody in Boston not even 48 hours after you came back.”

At Meredith’s accusation (which wasn’t entirely wrong), Addison looked indignant and huffed. “In my defense, you were sexting me at work. How was I supposed to keep my cool after that?”

“That’s the point, Addie. I’m _not_ expecting you to keep your cool, I wanted you to heat up… for me.” Meredith quipped, looking at Addison with smoldering eyes that never failed to make Addison weak in the knees.

Addison had been the receiving end of those stares in the past weeks. Virtually, they were making her weak and putty, but having them directed at her face to face? Well, they were deadly. “Yeah, well…” She couldn’t think of anything else to say, because seriously? The blonde wasn’t wrong, and it wasn’t like she could complain. Addison liked it. More than she would like to admit, in fact.

“They were okay about it though?”

“Mhm. I mean I became the center of their teasing, but sure, they were okay about it. Not Naomi though. Naomi had been badgering me about it at the beginning, but now I think she’s just waiting for me to explode with it.”

“Cristina is the same. She’s not _badgering_ me, but she _does_ want to know. She’s been not-so subtly teasing me and passively interrogating me for some information about you, you know? She thought I’m screwing McDreamy again.”

“Well, you’re screwing Mrs. McDreamy, so she’s not entirely off the mark.”

“ _Former_ Mrs. McDreamy. You’re my missus now, Dr. Montgomery-Grey.”

Addison blushed at that, taking a moment before saying. “That I am, Dr. Montgomery-Grey.” She leaned towards Meredith and gave her a chaste kiss. “That I am.” She whispered, looking straight at Meredith’s blue eyes.

After a brief moment, Addison leaned backwards and asked softly. “So, your sister?”

“What about her?” Meredith asked, a bit clipped and tensed.

“Well, she’s calling you. So I thought that might be an improvement.” Addison treaded lightly, not wanting to spook Meredith.

Meredith exhaled sharply. “I’ve been trying to… I don’t know… be nice to Lexie, I guess. I gave her my number before I left yesterday, and now she started calling me.”

“So, it’s going great, I’m guessing?” Addison asked dryly, though there was still a tinge of concern laced in her tone that belied her teasing.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “She’s friends with Derek, Addison. Granted she’s a sweet girl and all that, but it’s still hard. I’m trying. I didn’t want to know her before, I’m still not sure if I wanted to know her now, but I’m trying.”

“Maybe… maybe you just get to know her first as a friend, before getting to know her as a sister. If you’re not ready to become a sister, that’s fine, Mer. Nobody should force you to be one. I’m sure Lexie would understand.”

“Maybe..”

“So….. what about that 48 uninterrupted hours you were talking about? How is that spent, huh?”

“I can think of _a loooot_ of ways how.” Meredith smirked and wrapped an arm around the redhead’s waist, entrapping her for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s all for now, guys! I want to emphasize that the conversation between Addie and Mer about having an easy relationship was so important for me!!! I wanted to highlight healthy relationships — and I’ll be damned if that wasn’t what Mer and Addie would have. Communication is key for a healthy relationship, so I’m building them up for a relationship like that 😊 We all deserve that kind of relationship. Fights are fine. They’re part of every relationship, sure. But being toxic isn’t. That’s an entirely different thing. Getting that out of the way, I wanted to —
> 
> Thank you all for all your wonderful comments! I appreciate all your words and I like reading them! I apologize if I’m unable to reply to y’all one by one. I’ve been swamped with school for the past weeks. Turned out being a law student means there is no such thing as a “break” or “holidays”. But, I figured I’d give this chapter as a little treat for you guys. I hope you all are well and have enjoyed your holidays. Happy new year, MerAdds!


	4. Well, I was looking for Addison Montgomery?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!!!! It's been a while... this chapter isn't really finished yet, but I figured I'd post it now since it's been almost a month since the last time I updated. This isn't edited, so sorry for all errors! I decided to extend the number of chapters. I figured 5 chapters would not be enough to finish it, so yes! I extended it. This is basically a filler chapter - though it did move things along a little bit. Hang tight, because this is just the beginning.
> 
> Oh and shoutout to @LordofLezzies. I have no fcking idea how to tag or gift or whatever, but this chapter is for you (and it really is an update now, not just an author's note ;) ). ALSO I saw your tweets (hope thats not a bit too creepy!) about people asking for updates and well, you know. I thank you for saying that because it made me feel a whole lot better. I wanted to reply but I was shy... 😳 ANYWAY, thank you!
> 
> By the way! I haven't watched Private Practice yet. Only seen snippets, so how I write the characters is probably inaccurate and OOC. Apologies for that. 
> 
> Italics are flashbacks! Enjoy~

It had been 5 months since their impromptu marriage in Boston.

So far, so good. While there were times when they wanted to rip each other’s head off because of frustration (that more often than not, they couldn’t even remember what it was about), there were more times that they could not wait to rip each other’s clothes off instead. But overall? Yeah, so far, so fucking good.

Meredith never thought that she could feel as happy as she was now with anyone. Admittedly, she was dark and twisty with a rather cynical view of the world (and relationships – thanks to her Mom and Dad; and her recent experience of her own: Derek being on the top tier). However, being with Addison made her want to believe that not all relationships were meant to fuck up; that maybe, she could have her happy ending with the redhead, just like what she wished when her life was still about riding carousels and bright neon colors.

“Hey, honey.” Said a beautiful honey-like low voice behind her, feeling the said person’s arms wrapping around her waist, with their chin placed on her shoulder. Meredith could feel the woman’s hot breath on her ear, sparking an involuntary shiver down her spine.

Meredith smiled in delight.

“Hey, good morning!” Meredith turned around and wrapped her arms around the redneck’s neck, giving her a little peck on the lips.

“I missed you waking up.” Addison smiled.

“Well, I thought I should make us breakfast.”

Addison raised an eyebrow at that, knowing how terrible the blonde was when it came to cooking.

“Is my kitchen still intact then?” The redhead teased, an amused smile threatening to twitch out of her face.

Meredith rolled her eyes. “I made a sandwich, Addison. A PB&J sandwich.”

Addison couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Only Meredith Grey. “Well, I’m starving.” She drawled in exaggeration. “Where is it?”

Meredith beamed and turned away briefly to get _their breakfast_ and happily handed one of the sandwiches over to the redhead, while munching one of her own. She watched as Addison took a bite of the sandwich, not letting go of her waist, and waited in anticipation. When she saw Addison swallow, Meredith couldn’t help herself from asking, “So? Is it good?”

Addison smiled softly at her. “The best, honey.”

Meredith beamed beautifully at the redhead, making the latter’s heart melt in happiness. If Addison could just put that kind of smile on the blonde’s face everyday, then her life’s purpose would be complete.

After eating their breakfast, they walked back to the redhead’s room. They were currently in L.A., at the redhead’s Malibu house to be exact. It was only Meredith’s third time to visit Addison in L.A., so she was still quite amazed with the seemingly never-ending sunny weather of Southern California, despite the supposed winter in other parts of the country – and the beach! Oh, god, the beach! While Meredith had… unpleasant experiences with bodies of water, she couldn’t deny that a part of her still loved the beach. The calming effect it had on people? Well, it was short of magic! No wonder, Addison became very _zen,_ as she put it, when she moved here.

Things had been smooth-sailing between the two of them, well, relatively smooth-sailing. They spent their first Thanksgiving away from each other and with their respective friends, but luckily, Meredith was able to negotiate longer hours to have a 2-week off in exchange, so they did spend the holidays together in New York – particularly in the Hamptons which Addison got from her divorce with Derek. Before they came, Addison hired an interior designer to rearrange the whole place and erase all traces of Derek there, so when she and Meredith came, it was, in a way, both their first time to see it. Their friends still didn’t know about them, though that didn’t stop either camp from being curious – and at times, being nosy af – but it was to be expected, of course. They knew that.

While Meredith desperately wanted to believe just how subtle she could be, her earlier experiences with her friends showed otherwise.

* * *

_“Addison…” Meredith moaned, her hand under her pants working herself up, while talking to her wife._

_“Mhm? Are you close, Mer? Because I am. I am –” Addison’s breath hitched and croaked upon speaking again. “S-so c-close–”_

_“M-me too, Addie.. J-just keep going.” Meredith groaned, feeling the pressure building and building and bui – Meredith moaned out her wife’s nickname out loud upon reaching her high. She was panting and sweating so hard, listening to the redhead coming from the other side._

_Meredith could hear Addison’s pants and groans from her phone, imagining just how deliciously red and sweaty she would be – while no doubt still dressed in her tight pencil skirt and blouse, coupled with those obnoxiously high heels that highlights her leg muscles. Meredith bit her lip, feeling heat pooling on her core again by the mere image of Addison in her mind._

_“That – that was amazing, Mer.” Addison panted, still trying to catch her breath._

_Meredith laughed. “Well, if that was already amazing, you should wait ‘til you get here on Thursday, I’ll fuck you so ha–” Meredith wasn’t able to finish what she was about to say because the door to the on call room banged open._

_In came her Chief Resident, Dr. Miranda “The Nazi” Bailey._

_Meredith paled and all the lust that she was feeling for the redhead flushed out of her at the sight of her chief resident glaring at her._

_“Dr. Grey.” Bailey called, pursing her lips and not letting her glare waver._

_“D-dr. Bailey.” Meredith croaked out, feeling her throat dry – because of exhaustion and well, nerves._

_Addison could hear Bailey from the other side, and could imagine just the scenario happening at the moment. As much as she wanted to help Meredith, well, if there was one person in this world who scared the hell out of her, it would be Miranda fucking Bailey, so… of course she took the coward’s way out. “Right…… I’ll talk to you later, honey. Bye.”_

_Meredith wasn’t able to respond as she merely heard the beep from the other line._ Fucking Addison, for better, for worse, my ass, _Meredith thought._ Well, let’s see if you’ll be having this ass anytime soon, Dr. Montgomery. _Meredith thought again, privately smirking to herself._

_“Well? Are you just gonna stare there or work? Because the last I know, we don’t go around here to play hanky-panky to whoever the hell you’re talking to but to save people, am I right, Dr. Grey?”_

_Meredith stared at Dr. Bailey, a part of her still reeling from that last orgasm with Addison, and a part of her mortified from the subsequent events (and a huge other part of her was pissed off at Addison Montgomery for leaving her to the wolves – or y’know, Bailey – to fend for herself). When Bailey raised her eyebrow, Meredith reluctantly nodded, saying “U-uhh, y-yes?”_

_Bailey stood there for a couple of minutes, glowering at her, before she banged the clipboard she was holding to the bedpost and shouted. “Well, get to work then! Every minute wastin’ is a patient dyin’!”_

_Meredith scrambled to her feet, thanking whoever was out there that she didn’t take her clothes off when Addison and she… did that. Though her underwear felt a tad bit uncomfortable with the stickiness, she could deal with that later. “Yes, Dr. Bailey!” She shouted, rushing to get out of the on-call room._

_When she stopped for a second to breathe after getting herself out of the room, she looked up to see her friends – her fucking_ former _friends, to be exact – smirking at her, definitely knowing just what the hell happened._ Is it too late now to kick out Alex and Izzie out of the house? _She thought, glaring at them while walking towards the room of one of her patients._

* * *

_After finishing her charts for the day, Meredith was about to go on her way to check on one of her patients when her phone beeped, signaling a text and a MMS sent to her. Not stopping her slow walking, Meredith checked her phone and couldn’t help but feel giddy upon seeing what Addison had just sent her. It was a picture of an aromatherapy candle, that Addison liked to use since she moved to L.A., with a caption –_

From: AMG

2:17pm

I got a lavender-scented one! It reminds me of you and makes me miss you less. I feel like you’re right here with me… <3 Miss ur cuddles, honey.

_Meredith had to admit that it was cheesy af; and ordinarily, she would cringe at the prospect of it, but with Addison, well, it just made the butterflies in her stomach go wild and she couldn’t stop smiling._

_Meredith was too busy looking stupidly happy down at her phone that she didn’t notice a steel cart in front of her and bumped right into it – only hearing the warnings of some of the nurses too late, since some of the contents of the steel cart had spilled out already, creating a loud cacophony of metal and whatnot meeting the vinyl floor tiles._

_To say that Meredith was startled was an understatement, but to say that she was embarrassed was a whole other ball game. Everyone on the floor was staring at her; some looked amused, few looked concerned, while others seemed curious just what the resident was looking at when she bumped onto the cart._

_Meredith hurriedly gathered the kits and whatever the hell the cart contained (which Meredith didn’t particularly care anymore), placed them hastily on the cart, and walked briskly out of everyone’s sight._

_Two hallways away, she stopped, leaned on the wall, pulling out her phone, and then stared at Addison’s text, smiling stupidly to herself._

* * *

_“Hey, Meredith. Joe’s at 8 later tonight!” Izzie invited during their lunch break. Meredith was the last to arrive, since she just finished a 3-hour surgery with Sloan, who was relentlessly teasing and asking her about the person she was_ dating _. Apparently, the news caught the nurse’s attention – thanks to her display with the steel cart a week ago – and naturally, all of Seattle Grace Hospital did, as well._

_To say that Meredith was annoyed was putting it lightly. If it wouldn’t lead to a lawsuit just waiting to happen, Meredith would’ve scraped off that smug smirk on the manwhore’s face then and there, to hell with the patient. But Meredith had more class than that, so she_ endured _; of course, not without giving Mark Sloan a thorough talk down after the surgery. The stunned look on the plastic surgeon’s face was plenty worth it. She liked Mark, sure, but sometimes, the man just didn’t know when to stop. So, Mark Sloan speechless? Well, Meredith was proud – and she couldn’t wait to tell Addison all about it later._

_“Hey, earth to Meredith?” Izzie waved her hands in front of her face to get her attention which snapped Meredith back from reality._

_“Uhh – yeah?”_

_“Joe’s later at 8.” George repeated for Izzie, looking at the blonde curiously._

_Meredith bit her lip, grimacing. “I can’t.” Meredith said, looking down at her plate and not meeting any one of her friends’ gazes – not seeing the 4 exchanging knowing looks._

_“Why? We all have our day-off tomorrow. It’ll be perfect to get wasted!” Cristina said, as nonchalantly as possible, but with Cristina – she cannot be more subtle as Meredith was. It was obvious that Cristina clearly had an idea just_ why _Meredith ‘can’t,’ she just wanted to see Meredith suffer through coming up for a plausible lie for an answer. Plus! Her smirk was a dead giveaway._

_Meredith thought for a moment. Addison would be arriving later tonight at 9pm, straight from surgery. They hadn’t seen each other in person for 3 weeks, since they had been both busy, so Meredith wanted to spend as much time as she could while the redhead’s in town. If she came to drink with her friends, well… Let’s just say an hour was barely possible to get out of there._

_Breathing slowly, Meredith met the expecting stare of her friends. “I have plans.”_

_At her answer, Cristina’s smirk grew, as well as Alex’s, while Izzie grinned and George looked confused._

_“Don’t you think that’s getting a little bit serious, Mer? Ditching your friends for a hot fuck……” Cristina teased._

_“Well, I would do the same thing, so – you go, Grey!” Alex cheered, raising his sandwich to toast with the blonde’s._

_“So, who is it, Mer? You’ve been dating this person for the last..” Izzie paused, thinking. “Three? Four months? And you haven’t given a single clue about it!” Izzie exclaimed, a bit excited about the possibility of getting more information out of the blonde._

_“I – I’m_ not _dating anyone, guys. Not for the last months or so.” Meredith denied, justifying in her mind that it was technically true because…_ is it still considered dating, if you married the person already?

_Izzie huffed. “Oh please. Of course you are. You’ve been glued to your phone, nonstop.”_

_“I’ve been playing this game called bass fishing mania, it’s really addicting.” Meredith nodded her head, widening her eyes for effect._

_Izzie narrowed her eyes at her. “You rarely go now at Joe’s and when you do, you don’t bring anyone home… at all.”_

_“I’ve been celibate, I told you that before. I’m knitting again.” Meredith shrugged her shoulder._

_Cristina snorted at that, not once believing her person’s lie. While she was getting more and more pissed that Meredith was keeping her mouth shut, she also didn’t want to pressure Meredith too much at the risk of triggering her or whatever._

_“Yeah, that orgasm you had at the on-call room, 3 weeks ago, when Bailey caught you says otherwise.” George huffed._

_“Celibacy doesn’t mean no orgasm. I just meant I’m not sleeping with any random guys out there.” Meredith quickly rebutted, glaring at George for bringing that mortifying event of her life. She was scarred for life, to be honest; and while Addison wanted to start at it a few times in the past weeks, Meredith didn’t budge. Her fear of Dr. Bailey outweighed her lust for her wife, thank you very much._

_Cristina took note of the way Meredith worded her answer. ‘Any random guys’... so, were there ‘not random guys’ then? Or… maybe... any girls then? That was interesting. Meredith never told her she was bisexual or whatever label she wanted to call it, but Cristina had an inkling that her person wasn’t as straight as an arrow. She wouldn’t ask her that with their group of friends around, obviously. She may be cold and heartless, but she would never out someone without giving the person the choice. So she would keep her mouth shut, for now at least._

_“Well, you’re extra bright and shiny… and you’ve only been that way, when you were screwing McDreamy… well, actually you’re brighter and shinier now than you were even then! So, spill it, Mer.” Izzie pushed._

_“No.” Meredith firmly answered, gathering her trash. “I’ll catch you guys next Monday.” She hastily said, and practically ran away from her friends. Well, she never said she was brave._

* * *

Addison, on the other hand, had no such luck and thus, had similar experiences on her part of the country. While Seattle people are much nosier than the people in her practice, they can be nosy and a hell of a meddler when they wanted to be. Unfortunately, Addison’s lovelife was just interesting enough to warrant the rare times of their meddling. Hence –

_“I can’t believe you’re ditching a whole weekend of alcohol and sex for a doctor’s conference, Addison.” Cooper exclaimed, scrunching his nose in confusion. He was sitting on one of the stools in their kitchen, while the redhead was drinking her mid-afternoon coffee, standing and leaning on the counter right across Cooper._

_“Yeah! Weren’t you in that doctor’s conference just 2 weeks ago too? Just how many conferences are you invited to??” Pete added, getting a nod of approval from Cooper._

_Addison bit her lip. Well, she guessed she had to think of another excuse to leave the practice, yet again, for another whole weekend to see her wife in Seattle. It had been 2 months – and she had gone to 4 different conferences already! 1 legit, where she had a drunken marriage with her ex-husband’s ex-girlfriend and 3_ private _conferences with said ex-husband’s ex-girlfriend turned her current wife. It could still be technically called a doctor's conference since she_ was _meeting with a doctor, right?_

_“And why are you the only one getting an invite anyway? I mean, sure, you’re a double board certified surgeon yada yada, but we’re good doctors too, right?” Cooper asked, trailing off and turning to Pete to look for reassurance._

_Pete gave him an unsure smile which later became a sure smile – but did its damage already. Cooper deflated._

_Addison blew her hair up and exhaled. “Look, guys. I’m not ditching a whole weekend of alcohol and sex just for a doctor’s conference, okay?” Because she would absolutely have her own weekend of alcohol and sex with her wife._

_“Sure, you are!” Cooper answered back, before gasping, his eyes widening. “Unless…. You’re not!”_

_Pete looked at him bewildered._

_“You have a date.” Cooper stated in a calm manner, looking like he was realizing the answer to one of the Millennium prize problems. He facepalmed himself and shook his head, grinning. “Stupid, of course, you’re not doctor conferencing..” He said, flailing his hands. “You have a hot date –”_

_“Who has a hot date?” Naomi asked, upon entering the kitchen._

_“Addison.” Cooper proudly stated, grinning widely._

_Naomi stopped on her tracks and turned to Addison, raising an eyebrow. “You. have a hot date?” She asked._

_Addison fumbled for an answer, because ever since her first week back from Boston, this was the only time again that she was put on the spot like this for her lovelife and/or sexlife (which were not mutually exclusive anymore, thank God). She thought that she was finally off the hook, but of course, she wasn’t._ Lucky. _Her sarcastic mind thought._

_Naomi didn’t wait for her answer and merely nodded, knowing what Addison’s awkward fumbling meant enough to not warrant a direct answer from the redhead. “Right – is this the same person from Boston?”_

_Again, Addison didn’t know what to say, and again, she fumbled through an answer. “Well– uhh – that’s a very good question –”_

_“U-huh, so it is.” Naomi cut her off, nodding her head and placing one hand on her hips, looking like a mother standing in front of her teenage daughter, seconds away from tearing her apart for sneaking out of the house._

_Addison pursed her lips, annoyed that Naomi knew her well enough not to let her answer. Of course, Naomi wasn’t wrong, but she could’ve at least let her speak. She mentally rolled her eyes for it._

_Naomi stared at Addison for a few minutes, before she turned her attention to the guys. “So, what are we talking about before all this?”_

_Cooper and Pete looked at each other, before Cooper decided to speak. “Well, we were going to Hollywood this weekend to.. y’know… have fun and uhh- relax. Addison didn’t want to go because she has a_ doctors’ conference _which_ we _aren’t invited to.”_

_Naomi nodded her head, then turned to Addison again, pinning the redhead with her best mom glare._

_Not knowing what to say, Addison just stared at Naomi for a few seconds before she stood up straight and said – “I think I have an appointment at uhh –” she looked at her watch. “3:00! Oh gosh! Look at the time! It’s 2:54 already? Wow! Okay, patient! Duty calls! Bye guys!” She hastily said and took her exit, feeling Naomi’s glare to her back._

* * *

_It was an early morning for the Oceanside Wellness Group staff. Everyone was present, drinking their morning coffee while engaging in mindless chattering about the latest in the medical field (or in Cooper’s case, just about the girl she was banging the previous night). Everyone, that is except one double board certified neonatal surgeon, who was too busy giggling and blushing about something she read from her_ phone _or maybe to someone she was texting with, that she failed to notice all of her friends were all staring at her._

_When the silence of her surroundings penetrated Addison’s consciousness, she looked up and found her friends looking at her, all with teasing smiles._

_“I bet it’s a cute brunet who’s making_ the _Addison Montgomery giggle and blush so hard like that.” Cooper teased, smirking._

_Violet tilted her head, regarding Addison for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Nah. I think a cute blond does it. Brunet just doesn’t seem to fit it.”_

_“Well, her husband for 11 years was a brunet.” Cooper pointed out, knowing Addison’s history already._

_“Well, she cheated on him with his blond best friend. So, I say, blond.” Violet argued._

_Addison rolled her eyes at the silly argument. While Violet may be right, the psychiatrist might just be looking at the wrong gender._

But did she have a point though? Did she have a thing for blondes now? _Addison shrugged the thought away. So long as it was with her blonde wife, there would be no problem with that._

_“I say, whoever is making Addison giggle like that deserves a treat to wellness...spa, isn’t that right, Addison?” Sam joined in on the teasing, smiling at his old friend._

_Addison gave Sam a pointed look before ignoring them altogether to focus on her wife’s early morning adorable whining for waking up early (her choice of clothing or lack thereof was only an added bonus, of course) – not noticing her friends exchanging knowing and smirking looks, while Naomi looked a tad bit more curious and furious._

* * *

So, yes. Friends department? Definitely going _good_.

After their morning workout, which to Addison’s dismay, was a legit jog Meredith dragged her into after a few minutes cuddling in bed earlier, they were now drying themselves off from their joint shower.

“What do you want to do today?” Addison asked, pulling her tanktop and shorts on, watching Meredith do the same.

Meredith didn’t answer right away, but finished getting herself dressed first. She stalled further by making herself comfortable on the bed, crossing her legs and facing the confused and amused Addison, hovering the bed.

Meredith bit her lip, wringing her hands.

Addison raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms at that, wondering just what her wife was thinking.

The eyebrow did its job in prompting Meredith to start. “I… was thinking…”

“Well, that’s dangerous.”

Meredith rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Addison.”

Addison smirked, uncrossed her arms and plopped herself beside her wife to give her some type of comfort. “What’s up?” She asked genuinely concerned and curious.

Meredith stared at Addison for a bit, before she looked down. “Well, I was thinking… maybe we could go to your practice?”

A pause.

No one said anything for a few seconds – which for Meredith felt like hours.

Addison wasn’t saying anything, much less reacting. Her face was devoid of any emotion when Meredith took a peek. Addison was just… frozen.

“Please say something.” Meredith mumbled when she couldn’t take it anymore.

Addison blinked rapidly and straightened her back. “You… want… to go… to my… practice?” She asked slowly, as if trying to digest what Meredith asked her. “To Oceanside Wellness Group? As in where I work practice? That practice?” Addison added a bit rapidly now, her heart racing a bit at the possible implication of what Meredith wanted.

Meredith nodded. “Yes, if… you want.”

“That’s…” Addison started, then paused, looking at Meredith with curious but gleaming eyes. “You’re ready for that?”

_Are you ready to reveal our relationship to them?_ was a question that they both knew underlaid Addison’s last question.

Meredith stared at Addison’s face for a bit, gauging her reaction before she nodded resolutely, determination in her eyes. “Yes, I am. If you are.”

“Yes, of course. If you are.” Addison responded in a beat. “To everyone?”

“To your friends, first, if that’s okay. Seattle is… well, they’re more complicated.”

“Of course, Meredith. Whatever you want.”

“But, is it what you want?”

Addison thought for a moment then nodded. “Yes, I want that too, Mer. We could use this as practice for when we tell our friends in Seattle.”

Meredith pursed her lips. “Right, yes.”

Addison rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “At least Naomi won’t be badgering me for information about my multiple leaves in the practice anymore.”

Meredith froze, widening her eyes. It was foolish and so stupid of her, but she kinda forgot about Naomi. She hadn’t met the girl yet, but she knew of her – from Addison’s story mainly, but she also heard some of her work in the medical world – it was a small world. As Addison’s best friend, Meredith was rightfully terrified of her, so…

This didn’t escape the radar of one Addison Montgomery though. So, Addison reached for Meredith’s hand and squeezed it. “It’d be fine, they’ll love you, okay? They’ll love you.” She assured.

Meredith wanted to ask how could Addison be sure of that if Addison didn’t love her herself? But that would have to be a conversation for another day.

They changed into sundresses, since they weren’t really there to work but to just visit. They were on their way to the practice when Meredith’s cell rang – Bailey was calling.

“Grey, I know you’re on leave, but you have to go back. We need all hands on deck.”

“I’m not in the State, Bailey.”

There was a pause.

“Do I want to know?”

Again, a pause.

“No….”

Meredith heard Bailey give a long sigh before saying, “Well, catch the first flight in or whatever and go get your ass in here.”

Meredith pursed her lips and glanced at Addison who glanced at her worriedly, while the redhead still drove. Meredith sighed, feeling disappointed that her weekend with her wife was cut short. “Yes, Dr. Bailey. I’ll be on my way back.”

Addison looked at her questioningly. When she saw Meredith drop the call, she asked. “On your way back? You’re on leave!”

“All hands on deck, baby. I’m needed back. Can you… can you bring me to the airport? I’ll just call the airline to reschedule my ticket.”

Addison didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to answer to that, because, as a doctor, she understood. In lieu of an answer, she turned the car around to go back to her house to help Meredith pack and get her stuff.

“My flight’s at 3pm.” Meredith looked at her watch. It was 10:43am. “We can still get lunch, Addie?” She asked with a hopeful look on her face, trying to make it up to the redhead.

Addie smiled, appreciating the effort. “Sure, baby.”

It didn’t take long for them to get Meredith’s things. They opted to get lunch near the airport, so Meredith wouldn’t be late to her flight. Few minutes before Meredith was set to board the plane, they said goodbye.

“I’m sorry, Addie. I swear, I’ll make it up to you.” Meredith said sincerely.

Addison gave her a small smile. “I understand, Mer. I’m a surgeon too. I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

Meredith nodded her head and kissed Addison with all her being, trying to convey just how much she didn’t like to leave the redhead.

Meredith went straight to Seattle Grace Hospital upon landing. It was like the train wreck all over again, but this time it was two school buses full of children and adults alike.

It took 5 days before everything seemed to settle down in Seattle Grace. Everyone was exhausted – some more than others. Meredith was one of those some. Since getting back from L.A., she hadn’t seen her house for more than an hour to get change and get change of clothes. Most of her sleeping hours were done in the on-call rooms. Being a second year surgical resident wasn’t much better than being an intern at that point.

Meredith, Cristina and Izzie were getting ready for rounds for that day when Bailey came in. “You all get to have 3 days off starting tomorrow.” A barely noticeable smile was given to them and then Bailey promptly left.

The three girls merely looked at each other in confusion but said nothing. It was 3 whole days of no work? Why should they complain? After basically 120 hours of being in the hospital? Yep. They needed that break.

Meredith decided to surprise her wife then and there. So, during a brief break midmorning, she called the airlines and booked a ticket to L.A. for tomorrow morning. Tonight, Meredith would sleep first.

Her flight was 7am. That was fine – it was perfect actually. At least she could take Addison on early lunch upon arriving, that was assuming she had no patient. *crossed fingers*

Instead of going to Addison’s (or was it theirs now, since they’re married?) Malibu house, Meredith opted to just surprise Addison at her work. Meredith figured that since they were just about to tell Addison's friends anyway, before she was called and went back to Seattle, then there would be no problem if she went and surprised her wife there today instead.

She asked the taxi driver to drop her off at Oceanside Wellness Group, and well, he did. There was no mistaking it – if the huge “Oceanside Wellness Group” plastered on the red brick building was any indication. She entered the building and pushed for the 5th floor, where Addison told her the practice was.

Upon walking out, she was met with the floor’s lobby and a handsome young man with dirty blonde hair sitting behind a granite counter filled with papers and well, more papers. She approached the desk and was greeted with a warm smile.

“Welcome to Oceanside Wellness Group. I’m Dell. Can I help you?”

Meredith kept looking around the place, unsure whether she was, indeed, at the right place. “Oh – uhh, well, I was looking for Addison Montgomery?”

Dell glanced at his calendar (and appointment book) and saw nothing on it. “Do you have an appointment? If not, I could pencil you in, if you want.”

Meredith flushed a bit but vehemently shook her head. “Oh – uh no. I’m n-not here for an appointment. I’m here for her.”

Dell looked at her in confusion. “I– I can see that. But the doctors have strict schedule, so I think it’d be best if –”

“Look, I’m Dr. Meredith Montgomery-Grey. I’m her wife.” Meredith cut her off, losing a bit of her patience. She was exhausted, nervous and excited to see her wife – and totally didn’t have time to argue with anyone right now.

Dell’s eyes bulged a bit at the introduction. He froze, just staring at the new doctor in front of him.

Meredith bit her lip. She would laugh if she wasn’t in a hurry to see her wife. “So, can I see her now?”

Dell blinked and nodded his head. “Yeah, totally. I– uhh. I’ll accompany you to her, come on.” Yep, he was pretty sure the others didn’t know about this woman too, so he would never miss the introductions (and the reactions!) for the world. Addison’s wife? What the hell.

Dell led her to the door and walked her to Addison’s office which was empty.

“She’s probably in the kitchen. Come on.”

From the outside, Meredith could see that most, if not all, of the doctors in the practice, including Addison, were inside the kitchen. Well, this would be interesting.

“Wait here, I’ll call on her.” Dell smiled before he turned and slid the door open.

“Dr. Montgomery?”

Addison was sipping her coffee, listening to the others’ conversation when Dell called her. She looked up and asked. “Yes?”

“You have a visitor.”

Addison wasn’t expecting anyone, not even a patient so, she was confused for a second, before she realized that in her field, surprise patients were quite inevitable. “Is it an emergency? Can you accompany my patient to my office? I’ll be right there.”

Dell shook his head, then he smirked, enjoying it. “Uh– no, Dr. It’s not a patient. It’s actually your wife?”

Cooper and Pete both choked on their respective drinks, while Sam almost dropped his coffee, causing some of it to spill on his hand (“Oh shit! Hot hot hot!” Sam exclaimed, rushing to get to the sink for cold water.). Violet dropped her sandwich in the counter where she was having her super late breakfast, looking at Dell with wide eyes and her jaw dropping, while Naomi was looking at Addison in disbelief and in anger.

Addison, well, Addison on her part was confused at first, but her confusion was replaced by anticipation and happiness upon realizing what Dell just said and what the implication of Meredith visiting her in her office was. (and of course, it was Meredith! There couldn’t be any doubt about that)

Dell grinned and mentally tapped his back for having the foresight to include himself in this scenario, because the doctors’ reactions were gold! Dell stepped aside, and Meredith stepped forward, smiling shyly while her eyes were solely directed to Addison.

“Hi.”

“Mer!”

Upon seeing Meredith, the world aside from Meredith seemed to vanish and all Addison could think about was that her wife was here, in L.A., after almost 5 days of barely talking with her (which she understood perfectly!). She missed Meredith, so yes, she practically ran towards the blonde and enveloped her in a tight hug, not noticing (or choosing to ignore) the surprised, bewildered, amused and furious (at least, on Naomi’s) look on her friends’ faces.

Meredith reciprocated the hug just as tightly and buried her face on the redhead’s neck, whispering. “Surprise, baby.”

Addison tightened her hold on Meredith more before she let go, though not fully but just enough to see Meredith’s face. “What are you doing here?”

Meredith smiled. “I wanted to surprise you and make it up to you. Bailey gave us 3 days off after those grueling hours the past week, so here I am.”

“Here you are.” Addison grinned. “No more emergency calls?”

Meredith’s lip twitched and grinned back. “Well, I hope so.”

The two stared at each other’s eyes for a few more minutes, before a loud clearing of throats interrupted their moment. They separated and stood beside each other.

Addison gave Meredith a quick smirk and nod, before she turned her attention to her friends.

Cooper smirked, giving Addison a teasing look. “Well, care to introduce us to your friend, Addison?”

Addison rolled her eyes and intertwined her fingers with Meredith’s. “Well, Cooper… and uhh – guys, this is my _wife_ , Dr. Meredith Grey – well, Dr. Meredith Montgomery-Grey, officially, I guess.” She introduced, emphasizing _wife_ and raising her eyebrow in challenge.

“Mer, these are my colleagues and friends. Dr. Cooper Freedman, our pediatrician, Dr. Pete Wilder, our infectious disease specialist and an alternative medicine practitioner, Dr. Violet Turner, our shrink, Dr. Sam Bennett, our cardiothoracic surgeon and internist, and my best friend, Dr. Naomi Bennett, our reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist.”

Meredith waved her hand and smiled tightly, especially to Naomi who was glaring at her. “Nice to meet you all.”

“Pleasure is ours, Dr. Grey.” Cooper smirked.

“Meredith - as in your husband’s Derek’s dirty mistress Meredith?” Naomi finally asked, looking sharply at Addison.

Meredith gulped and turned to Addison who met her eyes before she looked back to Naomi.

“ _Ex_ -husband and _Ex_ -mistress, Nai. And I don’t appreciate you saying that about my wife.” Addison firmly stated, glaring at Naomi just as sharply.

The others were quiet, not wanting to go in between the 2 best friends.

Meredith merely squeezed Addison’s hand, trying to calm the redhead down. She didn’t want Addison and Naomi to fight because of her. She was pretty sure that would be considered bad news in any best friend and partners rule book.

Despite his stinging hand, Sam stood behind Naomi and placed his hands on Naomi’s arms to calm his ex-wife down. He knew how Naomi could be.

Naomi closed her eyes a bit and took a deep breath. She shook her head and gave Meredith a small smile. “Right, she’s right. I apologize for being rude, Meredith. It’s nice to meet you.”

Unsure, Meredith glanced at Addison who didn’t tear her eyes away from her best friend. Meredith turned back to Naomi and gave her a small but genuine smile. “It’s nice to meet you too. Addison has told me so much about you.”

Naomi’s brow quirked and glanced briefly at Addison. “All bad things I hope.”

Meredith chuckled, flailing her hands. “Ohh.. just y’know, your med school days and all that.”

Naomi didn’t say anything anymore on that, but her posture relaxed a bit.

There was a bit of a pause before Meredith chose to break it.

“I actually came here to surprise Addison. Do you guys mind if I steal her for a bit?”

Simultaneous “Oh go ahead!” and “Not at alls” were heard, before Addison pulled her out of the kitchen and out of the door. Dell waved them goodbye, smiling at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Thank y'all so much for waiting! I'm better now. I'm not sick, though classes have started again while still barely recovering from last semester... oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, am I right? Oh and I deleted my previous author's note! Thank you for reading my story. You guys don't know how much it means to me!!! Hope I met your expectations? Well, if not, there are more chapters ahead, I guess.
> 
> Wishing you all a good day and keep safe!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta'ed. All mistake are mine, sorry!
> 
> This ain't Seattle reveal yet, but it is a push forward. Hope you like it! Enjoy ~

“So, what do you think?”

Meredith was just looking around Addison’s office. It was their last stop of their office tour. After practically stealing Addison away from the latter’s friends for a lunch date, they came back in the practice with Addison insisting she tour Meredith around (though it wasn’t that much – not like a hospital at least).

“It’s nice, Addie. It’s a huge contrast to the loud and never-ending hustle and bustle of the hospital.”

Addison hummed, agreeing. “It’s one of the things that really convinced me to move here. It’s quiet.”

“Got tired of the endless gossip in Seattle Grace?”

Addison groaned, plopping down on her couch and gesturing Meredith to sit beside her. “Especially the endless gossip. Seriously, you’d think as a hospital, it would have less chatter and more action, but noooo. Seattle Grace is practically a gossip hub and a favorite setting of dramas with a heaping number of people with train wreck lives.”

Meredith chuckled, throwing herself to Addison on the couch and snuggling the redhead a bit. “Well, I’d argue that Seattle Grace definitely sees more action than any other hospital.” Meredith smirked, looking up at the redhead, her face oozing with an all-knowing smug look.

Addison rolled her eyes, understanding what the blonde meant. She wasn’t wrong though. As Addison told Pete before, Seattle Grace’s elevator was practically an aphrodisiac – not to mention the on-call rooms and supply closets!

A comfortable silence settled between them, while they were mindlessly and quietly staring at the monochrome picture of babies’ feet displayed on top of the short shelf behind Addison’s desk, until Addison broke the silence.

“Hey, thank you.”

“Hmm.. for what?” Meredith asked, shifting to press her body more with Addison.

“Going here..”

“Addison..”

“No… just.. Let me say this.”

Meredith kept quiet, waiting.

“I know this is a big deal, Mer. For us. For our relationship. We started this with just the 2 of us –”

“Well –”

“The Mass. Gen. doctors notwithstanding –” Addison pointedly said, knowing what Meredith would be saying. Meredith shrugged, nodding. “– we started this with just us, and decided not to tell anyone… And now, we’re here – dropping this bomb on my friends about us; and not just us being together, but like us being married… So, I just – this is a big deal, Mer. And big things like this, relationship wise, I know it isn’t easy for you, so thank you.”

Meredith sat up properly and looked at Addison straight to the eyes, a small smile on her lips. “Addison, I know we said no commitment and no expectations, but you should know that the moment I agreed to try this with you, I fully committed myself to doing that. So, meeting your friends? It’s… I’m glad to do it, Addison. It might not be the same as telling our Seattle friends, but it’s a start, and right now, I don’t see us fucking it up anytime soon. I figured it’d be easier for you to get away and see me, anyway.”

Addison’s eyes shone with something that Meredith couldn’t tell what, but nevertheless, it made the butterflies in the blonde’s stomach go wild. Seeing Addison soft was a new experience every time – only because it was such a contrast to the Addison she knew in Seattle before. Sure, Addison had her moments in SGH, but Meredith wasn’t as privy to that as she was now. Now, she was the recipient of that  _ softness _ and Meredith loved it.

When Addison’s soft eyes turned mischievous, Meredith knew she was done for. At that moment, Meredith knew she was in love. She was in love with her beautiful, kind, genius wife; and it felt so right. It felt freeing. It felt like everything that was wrong in her life before finally made sense. Everything was just so she could be led to right here, with Addison in the latter’s office in a whole other State. She had to get her heart broken, so she could meet this beautiful lady, so she could fall in love with this amazing woman.

And it just… It clicked. She loves Addison Adrienne Forbes Montgomery-Grey.

Meredith’s sudden realization was halted by Addison’s teasing.

“So, telling them is purely for selfish reasons huh? You want me in Seattle all the time?” Addison pulled her closer by the waist.

Meredith melted and wrapped her arms around the redhead’s waist and shifted herself – practically laying on top of Addison with the new position. “I always want to be with you, Addie.”

Addison hummed, caressing Meredith’s blonde hair. “Yeah, me too, Mer.”

* * *

It was late afternoon on Monday. Meredith left last night to Seattle after a weekend of basically locking themselves up in Addison’s (or their) room. It was a weekend that they both really needed after quite the week they had, especially Meredith.

Now, Addison and Naomi were devouring a cheesecake at the Oceanside Wellness Group’s lounge. They were sitting on the floor, quiet for a few minutes until Naomi spoke.

“So, tell me about this Meredith.”

“I told you about Meredith.”

Naomi shook her head aggressively, tutting. “No. No, you  _ told me _ about Meredith- _ the dirty mistress _ , not about Meredith- _ the wife _ , Addison.. So, spill it because seriously, I –” she exhaled, trying to calm her racing annoyance at Addison’s secrecy. “– am utterly annoyed by the secrecy, yet again.. This is like New York and Derek all over again.”

“Nai…”

“No, Addison. No… you don’t get to act like that. We promised… we promised that after that year of not talking, that we would tell each other everything and now, you have a wife. What the fuck, Addison?”

Addison bit her lip, knowing how Naomi could get worked up over this – rightfully so. She was her best friend after all. “I know.”

There was a pause.

“So?” Naomi prompted, raising an eyebrow at Addison.

Addison took a swipe at the cheesecake and took a bite first, mentally and emotionally preparing herself for this inevitable conversation. After swallowing said piece, she looked everywhere but Naomi. “Well, it started when I had this conference in Boston.” Addison told her everything that happened in Boston – what they talked about after and decided. Naomi kept quiet, letting Addison finish her story. So, when the redhead was finished, Addison looked at the fertility specialist expectantly.

Naomi pursed her lips. “So,  _ she _ was the reason you extended your stay in Boston. For a hot fuck? Really, Addison? You had patients.”

Addison rolled her eyes. “No, I stayed for the conference and my honeymoon.”

“Bullshit.”

Naomi and Addison glared at each other for a few minutes, until they both burst out laughing hysterically.

“God!” Naomi wiped a tear on her cheek. “Your life’s a mess, Addie.”

Addison groaned. “Tell me about it.”

They laughed for a few more minutes, before it winded down naturally. Naomi stared at Addison’s glowing face and bright smile and asked, “You’re in love, aren’t you?”

Addison froze for a few seconds, debating what to say, until she, posture relaxing, finally responded with a quiet “Yes, Nai. I am.”

Naomi gave her a small smile, reaching Addison’s arm to squeeze it. “And you’re happy, right?”

Addison nodded. “I… think I’ve never been this happy before.. Those first few years with Derek were bliss, but… being with Meredith never failed to make me feel like I was in euphoria. Even if we’re barely together, even if we only sit in silence sometimes, it just – it’s perfect. With Derek and even Mark, it always felt like I have to do something, you know? Like there’s always have to be some kind of effort or gesture for us to be happy, but with Meredith, her mere presence is enough. Just the thought of her? God, Nai. It makes me happy.  _ She _ makes me happy.”

“I can tell, Addie. You’re brighter.”

Addison grinned. “I feel brighter.”

“And there’s nothing more I want for you, Addison. If you’re happy? I am happy. And If Meredith makes you happy, I am okay with that. I’m happy for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course, Addison. You’re my best friend. All I want is your happiness.”

“Thanks, Nai. I hope you find your happiness too.”

Naomi shrugged. “Maybe someday.”

* * *

“How’s your weekend, Mer? We didn’t see you at all.” Izzie asked, quite put out but equally intrigued about their friend’s whereabouts.

Meredith, Izzie, and Cristina all had their days off following the bus catastrophe the previous week. Izzie expected to spend it slacking off at home, with pizza and Meredith’s mom’s surgical tapes and with her two girl friends. However, neither Cristina nor Izzie saw even a shred of their friend’s hair during that.

Naturally, they – but mainly Izzie – were curious.

Meredith was fixing her stuff on her cubby, while being interrogated by her friends.

“Yeah, you’ve gone MIA, Mer.” Cristina chimed in, looking at her person suspiciously. “Please don’t tell me that you ditched pizza and surgery for a marathon sex weekend with your guy?”

Meredith pursed her lips for a bit before exhaling. “I did not ditch pizza and surgery for a marathon sex weekend with a guy.” She said, because she  _ didn’t _ . She ditch pizza and surgery (her mom’s surgery which frankly she didn’t really like watching) for a marathon sex weekend with a woman. Not just any woman though, with her  _ wife _ at that. So… she figured she could get a free pass on that.

“Where were you then?” Izzie pushed, now standing directly beside Meredith and staring at her, as if willing her to admit.

“Just, you know, out.” Meredith answered with a noncommittal manner. It was getting harder and harder to hide but Meredith wasn’t ready yet; and she knew Addison wasn’t also.

“Mer –” Izzie was about to push her more, when the door opened revealing Bailey followed by Callie.

“Assignments –”

Saved by the freaking nazi – ah, the irony.

After being given their assignments, Meredith left to find her interns, escaping the watchful and curious gaze of her friends. She wanted to tell them, especially Cristina. She didn’t even expect it to be so hard to keep it from them, but she wasn’t ready yet; and she knew, neither was Addison.

She just needed more time.

Besides… Meredith wanted to tell her friends once everything between her and Addison was more stable. She knew that she loved her wife. Gosh, did she love her so much. However, Meredith was still unsure of how Addison felt – and… she went through so much already to know that sometimes (or most of the time), love wasn’t enough to stay together.

They just needed to wait some more. More time. More time.

* * *

It was Valentine’s day.

Which luckily fell on a Saturday.

She was able to bribe George – who was newly single – to cover for her on her supposed shift on Valentine’s Day, in exchange of saving him from Callie’s wrath.

The O’Malleys didn’t really part in an amicable manner.

Long story short, George cheated with another woman – some girl he met from a bar (girl from the bar were dangerous - Meredith knew, she used to be a girl from the bar). Callie was forgiving at first, but it all came to a head one morning, and voila. George was single.

For some reason, Meredith had never been able to celebrate Valentine’s Day before. That was probably not surprising, considering who she was, but in an out of character move, she asked Addison on a date.

On Valentine’s Day.

Yes, she did.

She asked Dr. Addison Adrienne Forbes Montgomery-Grey, world-class neonatal surgeon, her wife, on a date.

On Valentine’s Day.

Meredith was aware that repeating it multiple times didn’t make it any more real than it actually was, but what the hell, she felt it was warranted.

She was nervous as hell, but also excited as fuck.

She’d never been on a “real”… date. The closest to a real date that she’d ever been to was birthing a horse and eating home-cooked dinner (with Finn). She was aware that she went to dinner with Addison multiple times already, either in Seattle or in L.A., but she didn’t want to count those times. She hadn’t really realized then how in love she was with her wife (besides, those were secret dinners), but now…

Now, she was aware of how head over heels she was for her wife, and they could have dinner now anywhere they wanted to without fearing anyone they knew seeing them… at least in L.A..

So, needless to say, the married couple agreed to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles. Their first (of many, hopefully) Valentine’s day together.

Since Meredith was staying at Addison’s house, Addison opted to prepare at Naomi’s house for their date. Meredith agreed, because she really did want to experience driving to her date’s house and being surprised at how stunning her date would look. She was particularly excited about that. She knew that Addison would be beautiful no matter what she wore, but nevertheless, Meredith was excited to see her.

Addison, on the other hand, was practically a wrecking ball of nerves. After preparing a breakfast in bed for her wife (and after a morning full of kisses), Addison went straight to Naomi’s house and dragged her best friend to shop for her date later. She didn’t expect Meredith to ask her out. Initially, she thought that they’d just spend the night cuddled together, watching movies – and she would have been perfectly fine with that – but Meredith told her, after enjoying their breakfast, that the blonde wanted to take her out on a proper date. Addison was ecstatic –

but also nervous. She hadn’t been on a date since forever. 11 years of marriage with Derek and 2 months living with Mark? Yeah, go figure.

So, yes. She was nervous. She kinda forgot the feeling of preparing for a first date and forgot how nerve-wrecking it could be.

“I don’t know what you’re worried about, it’s not like this is your first date with Meredith.”

Addison glared at her best friend, Naomi who was lazily going through the dresses in the rack (not really paying attention much).

Getting no response, Naomi looked her best friend’s way to see her glaring at her. “What?” She asked innocently.

“Well.. for your information…” Addison straightened her blouse a bit, suddenly shy and unable to meet Naomi’s eyes. “This is, in fact, our first date.” She cleared her throat and continued looking at the dresses – she couldn’t find any that she thought would make Meredith drool over her.

Naomi stared at her best friend for a few seconds, her expression turning confused. “What do you mean? You told me she takes you out to dinner in Seattle whenever you visit and you take her out to dinner here in LA.”

“Well, yeah. But those are dinner, usual meals. Not dates.”

Naomi’s face scrunched in confusion and shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Addison sighed and faced her friend. “Nai.. I told you that Meredith and I are taking it slow, right? We had meals together, but… never dates. Well, at least we never labeled it as dates. We never gone on something that would make me fuss over myself – if I look good or not. We just… we ate. That’s that.”

Naomi rolled her eyes. “You both are idiots. If you think that you have not been dating this whole time, then you’re more clueless than I thought you actually were!”

Addison flailed her hands. “Well, it doesn’t matter. We’re going on a date now, and you’re helping me pick a fucking dress.”

Naomi jumped back and raised her hands in exasperation. “Fuck that. I hate it here. Let’s go somewhere else.” and she dragged Addison out of the store and into another.

After about 3 hours, they finally saw THE dress.

“If Meredith doesn’t end up ripping this dress off of you later to ravish you and fuck you senseless, then she’s not the girl for you.”

“Nai… it’s $300..”

“So, it’d better be fucking worth it.”

After shopping, they had light lunch, before going to the spa and wax salon. Yes, Addison was all in for this date. She would make herself fucking irresistible and God bless Meredith’s control later, but Addison made it her mission to drive the blonde crazy tonight.

They were about to head home when Addison saw a jewelry shop. She thought of Meredith and had an idea for a perfect Valentine’s gift for her wife.

Now, Addison was busy dressing up for their date – she had already driven Naomi crazy twice with her panicking, so now, she was *a bit* calm. It just Meredith anyway –

Her lover. Her wife. The woman she was in love with.

Well, no pressure there.

She was only putting her earrings when Naomi knocked on the latter’s room.

“You ready? Meredith’s here.”

Addison glanced on the wall clock and saw that it was 6:45pm.

Of course, Meredith was already there. As a resident, she was never late.

So, of course, she’d be here early.

“I’m almost done..” She finished hooking up her earrings and faced Naomi.

“How do I look?” Addison asked nervously.

Naomi looked her up and down and smiled softly. “You look amazing, Addie. I’m sure Meredith would think so too.”

Addison fiddled her fingers for a bit, before she sighed. “I hope so. I’m so nervous, Nai.”

“Well, don’t be. You look great!” Naomi grinned. She took a step forward and wrapped her arms around the redhead. “I am so happy for you, Addie. You deserve this.”

Addison returned the hug which further calmed her. “Thanks, Nai.”

Naomi broke their hug and guided Addison out of the room. “Don’t be nervous. Just be yourself, okay?”

Addison nodded, feeling so much anticipation in seeing Meredith. They were about to turn the hallway to emerge to the living room where Meredith was when Naomi stopped walking.

“What is it?” Addison asked, perplexed.

“Actually, I think you should take a deep breath.”

“Why?”

“Well, Meredith looks beautiful, so you know, you might run out of breath.”

Addison chuckled, thinking that Naomi was just teasing her. Instead of following her bestfriend’s advice, she took the steps to emerge from the hallway and –

Naomi’s right.

Addison felt her breath knocked out of her because, holy fuck!

Meredith looked so fucking ravishing in her  [ mustard yellow suit ](https://images.app.goo.gl/jNrmtKqzdjipaZbx9) with – holy fuck – no shirt inside.

Meredith was wearing a fucking suit, holy shit!

Addison was breathlessly and shamelessly staring at her wife, taking her in.

She was so busy ogling at her wife, that she didn’t notice Meredith doing the same to her.

Addison was wearing a  [ dark green halter dress ](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FyYQxd8gfpI/W2GBGtX-pRI/AAAAAAAAKvI/4KzwGKBHEFQb4QZq8bQf7DnvhDxiaeeRgCEwYBhgL/s1600/2842-kate-walsh.jpg) that goes until just inches above her knees, with a cut on the center of her chest that showed her side boobs and cleavage perfectly.

“Wow.” Meredith exhaled, looking at her wife admiringly. “You look so beautiful, Addie.”

That made Addison snap out of her own trance. She smiled widely. “You’re one to talk. You look amazing, Mer.”

Meredith stepped closer to her and handed her a bouquet of gardenia with a yellow daffodil in the middle.

“These are for you.” Meredith said, smiling. “Happy Valentine’s day, Addie.”

Blushing, Addison took the flowers and kissed Meredith on the cheek. “Thank you, honey.”

Meredith was staring at Addison for a few seconds, her eyes shining and smiling sweetly, until Naomi cleared her throat to get their attention.

Meredith looked up and saw Naomi giving them a ‘look’. “Well, don’t you have somewhere to go?” Naomi asked, teasingly.

Meredith bit her lip to suppress her smile and turned to look at Addison. “You ready?”

“Yes. I’ll just get my purse.”

“I got it.” Naomi said, holding the redhead’s purse.

Addison smiled gratefully. She walked towards her bestfriend and hugged her for a bit.

“Have fun, Addie.”

“Thanks, Nai.”

They let go and Addie walked towards Meredith. Meredith took Addison’s hand in hers to guide her out of the house. “Thank you, Naomi.” She called out to her wife’s best friend.

Naomi waved her hand and saw them off.

* * *

It took about an hour before they reached their destination.

While Meredith didn’t tell her where they were going, Addison immediately found out when they turned to Melrose Ave. She had been raving about this restaurant to Meredith for quite long already. She really wanted to take the blonde here, but it was a common place for doctors, so they didn’t. Not until now, anyway.

“Mer…”

“We’ve been talking about eating here for so long, Addie. Now that your friends know about us, I see no reason for us not to enjoy it.”

Meredith went out of the redhead’s car and walked around Addison’s side to open the door for her. Then they proceeded to the restaurant.

“Welcome to Carlitos Gardel Argentine Steakhouse. Happy Valentine’s Day!” Greeted by the receptionist.

“Reservation for Montgomery-Grey?”

The woman checked her list, before smiling at them. “Ah, yes. Drs. Montgomery-Grey. Please follow me.”

They were led to a secluded area, away from the other customers.

“I want us to have privacy, so I asked them to place us away from the crowd.”

They sat down and were handed a menu. Meredith ordered them first a bottle of Pinot Noir while still deciding what to eat.

“You mean you rented out a portion of the restaurant…” Addison drawled, understanding what Meredith actually meant. “..and on Valentine’s day at that. That must be expensive, Meredith.”

“It’s not a big deal, Addie. In case you forgot, my mom’s Ellis Grey. I might not have a $30M trust fund, but I do have a trust fund and my mother’s properties since she died.” She teased, grinning.

Addison grinned. “Ah.. sometimes I forget that you’re as WASP as I am.”

Meredith couldn’t help but playfully roll her eyes at that.

* * *

As soon as they finished ordering, their conversation started naturally. They had been together for almost 6 months already that it wasn’t even an issue. For some, they might probably have a hard time maintaining a conversation on the first date, but for them… well, Addison and Meredith could concede that their date might  _ not _ be strictly considered as their  _ first _ . Nevertheless, for the both of them, it felt… different.

For the longest time, they had been careful so they wouldn’t get caught, but now? It felt freeing to actually be together on a date, not caring about who would see them.

When their orders arrived, Addison bugged Meredith to try it already. She knew it was good, and she liked Meredith to try it for herself.

Meredith took a bite of the lamb chops – and it was glorious.

The flavors mixed perfectly well in her tongue.

“It’s amazing, Addie.”

Addison practically beamed at her. “I know. If you know the best pizza in Boston, I know the best steakhouse in LA.”

Meredith couldn’t argue with that.

They happily ate their dinner with light conversation in between. After they ordered for dessert, Meredith cleared her throat and took Addison’s hand in hers.

Addison looked at Meredith curiously, surprised at the latter’s actions.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what is it?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re holding my hand, Meredith.”

“I always hold your hand.”

“Meredith…”

Meredith was quiet for a moment, not sure if she really wanted to say it. Serious conversations were never her thing – well, at least serious romantic conversations. She hated it, because usually it ended badly.

BUT… she wanted this particular conversation to end well, not only for her but especially also for them. For her and Addison. For their marriage.

“What do you want to say, Meredith? I can hear you thinking.”

“Well… Addison, I actually – there’s actually a reason why I asked you on a date.”

Addison raised her eyebrow.

“I think… I think we need to talk.”

Upon hearing those words, Addison felt her surrounding closing on her. Meredith wanted to talk.

Oh gosh. Was this a pre-break up/pre-divorce Valentine’s date?

Was that it?

Did Meredith ask her out on this date because she wanted to end things with her?

Did she finally realize that their marriage wasn’t worth the trouble?

That it wouldn’t work out?

Oh my god.

Did Meredith get back together with Derek!?

Meredith told her that she asked Derek to work with her on a clinical trial to find a solution to inoperable malignant gliomas she found on one of her patients during the surgical contest that Bailey started.

Addison was initially apprehensive about it, but she trusted Meredith and she knew how much Meredith loved neuro, so she supported her; and even asked for updates every now and then (nothing good still, but they were hopeful).

Her face must have shown her panic because Meredith squeezed her hand hard and started talking. “Addison.. It’s nothing bad, I swear.. Well, at least I think it isn’t bad… you know what? This obviously brings you so much stress. We can talk about it later, or never… just breathe, Addison.”

Addison breathed in and out and took her hand out of Meredith’s and stared at Meredith. “No… you have to tell me now.”

“Addie–”

“You can’t say that and make me panic, and not continue, Meredith. That would drive me crazy..”

“Addie –”

“Please, Meredith. Just let’s talk this out.. Are you gonna break up with me? Is that it? Because that might not be a bad thing for you, but it is for me.”

“Addison–”

“No, you don’t understand.. I want us, Mer. I don’t want to be without you… So, I don’t care if you think this isn’t working, because I think it is and you just have to open your eyes and accept tha–”

She was cut off by a rough kiss from gentle lips. Addison was frozen for a second but she responded after a second. Meredith bit her lip and sucked it which made the redhead moan.

Meredith broke off their kiss with a soft peck, and stared at Addison, panting heavily. Their faces were a few inches away from each other, so Meredith could see the glaze look on her wife’s eyes and how swollen her lips were.

Meredith could spend eternity just kissing Addison.

“I’m not going to break up with you, Addison.” Meredith whispered, staring straight at the redhead’s green eyes.

“You’re not?” Addison whispered back, mesmerized by the shining blue eyes of her lover, her wife, the love of her life.

“No.”

They spent a few minutes just looking at each other’s eyes, before Addison blinked rapidly and put a distance between them, confused. “You’re not?” She asked again.

Meredith chuckled and took Addison’s hand again, squeezing it. “No, Addison. I’m not.”

“Well, what is it you want to talk about then?” Addison sounded put off because her panicking was for nothing, apparently. It was embarrassing.

“Us.”

“Then you are breaking up with me!” Addison said loudly, panic starting to bubble up her chest again.

“No!” Meredith tried to calm her down by rubbing her thumb on the red head’s knuckle. “I swear, I’m not, Addison.”

“But you want to talk about us.”

Meredith groaned, feeling exasperated over her wife’s cluelessness. “God, you’re so clueless.”

Addison’s brows furrowed, miffed at Meredith’s statement. “I’m not clueless, you’re just being unclear.”

Meredith rolled her eyes and held both of Addison’s hands in hers, staring straight at Addison. “Okay, fine. I love you, Addison. I’m in love with you. Is that clear enough for you?”

Addison’s eyes widened at the blonde’s revelation. To say that it left her speechless was an understatement.

Meredith waited for Addison to say something, anything… but nothing… the redhead was only staring at her.

Meredith was terrified. When she asked Addison to have a date with her earlier today, Meredith felt quite confident that she could pull this off (the delicious pancakes, bacon and eggs prepared by the redhead might have added to her confidence), but as the day went by, her confidence waned more and more. However!

Seeing her beautiful wife and knowing that there were doubts as to the status of their relationship (and underlying fear of being left), well, it strengthened her resolve to confess, finally, that she was in love with Addison. It had been a month since she realized the true depth of her feelings for Addison, and it was an agonizing month.

Being able to kiss Addison and make love with her, but not being able to express just how  _ much _ the redhead made her feel? It was like she was on the precipice of something, ready and brave, and yet she couldn’t take the leap… not yet.

Not until this moment, that is.

Despite the quiet buzzing of the people around them in the restaurant, Meredith couldn’t hear anything else but the rapid beating of her heartbeat, the hitch in her breath, and the quiet staring of her wife.

Addison’s gaze was piercing through her, but still, Meredith couldn’t ascertain whether it was good or not. So, she squeezed Addison’s hand and prompted the redhead to… “Say something please… anything.”

There was only silence again… until –

“You love me?” Addison asked with a barely audible voice.

It was so quiet that Meredith strained her ear to hear. But she did hear, so she responded.

“Yes, I do. I love you, Addison.”

Addison exhaled, feeling the air filling her lungs. She was breathless, and rightly so. Her wife just freaking confessed that she loved her! (She realized the absurdity of that statement, but still!!) The love of her life, the woman she was painfully and helplessly in love with was also in love with her.

Oh God.

At least saving the lives of babies gained her some brownie points to the universe – enough to grant her the privilege of being loved by an amazing amazing woman.

Addison was just staring at Meredith, in awe that she was loved by this woman.

Addison saw Meredith bite her lip, so she licked hers, feeling thirsty for those lips. (Meredith did not notice that though, she was too busy feeling nervous to notice just how thirsty her wife was for her.)

“Is… that… is that okay? It’s not… bad, is it?” Meredith asked, tentatively. She asked so slowly and so unsure, scared that she would spook the redhead on a Valentine’s day.

Addison stared at Meredith, trying to make sense of what Meredith just asked her then she laughed. She fucking laughed at the ridiculousness of the question.

“Of course it isn’t bad! You love me, Meredith!” She answered, now beaming and her eyes shining.

Addison looked so happy that Meredith thought she would gladly tell the redhead she loved her everyday if it would elicit that level of happiness from the redhead.

“I do.. I love you, Addison.”

Addison stopped laughing and reciprocated the soft look the blonde was directing at her. “Well, that’s very fortunate, Dr. Montgomery-Grey because I love you too.”

It was Meredith’s turn to be speechless and to be surprised.

Truthfully, when Meredith thought of confessing her feelings to Addison, she didn’t, not even once, think that the redhead would reciprocate it.

Don’t get her wrong… she very much dreamed that Addison loved her too, but she felt that it was a bit too far fetched still, for the redhead, to love the woman who practically stole her husband from her.

So, she resolved on waiting for the redhead.

She decided to tell Addison that she loved her, then to woo her until the redhead fell in love with her.

But apparently, she didn’t need to do that. The waiting part, not the wooing part, at least.

Because Meredith would still woo Addison. She would woo her so hard that Addison wouldn’t even think of falling out of love with her. She would woo her so hard that there would never be Addison and someone else ever again, but only Addison and Meredith.

Meredith leaned in, cupping the redhead’s cheek and gave her a sweet, chaste kiss. Their very first real kiss as an actual couple.

They weren’t just trying to work it out… because they did work it out.

They worked it out and now, they were in love.

Gosh. When did the universe finally decide to fucking give her a break and give her this beautiful, smart, kind woman to love? And be loved by said beautiful, smark, kind woman in return?

They kissed for a few seconds, not minding at all that they were in a public place.

Who cares, anyway?

The woman she loves loved her back.

Damn them all.

She’d kiss Addison forever if she could.

But she couldn’t because their dessert arrived.

The waiter gave them a sheepish and apologetic smile for interrupting them before wishing them a happy dessert and left.

Addison and Meredith stared at the slice of strawberry shortcake for a few seconds, before they turned back to look at each other.

Both women smiled at each other.

Meredith wordlessly asked for the bill, not taking her eyes away from Addison. She gave her card and as soon as they handed it back to her, she took Addison’s hand and pulled the redhead away from the restaurant.

Needless to say, the dessert was left forgotten as the lovebirds opted to go home instead.

(The $300 was definitely fucking worth it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm so sorry for the *late* update. I have been swamped with acads more so than usual! I swear our professors' mission in life is to make our lives a living hell. I practically have class 24/7 because hell, I have no time for break. That said, I'm sorry I haven't been able to update sooner. I was supposed to update on Valentine's day, but heck, I couldn't. So, I rushed to finish writing this and post this today instead. I haven't edited it, so sorry.
> 
> I hope you guys had a wonderful Valentines/Galentines. Let me know what you think. I love reading your comments!
> 
> Keep safe!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Dinner for Two?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28943514) by [LordofLezzies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordofLezzies/pseuds/LordofLezzies)




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